Fear
by tay0720
Summary: When the gang plus 1 head into what they think is the season opener of MTV's show FEAR they had no idea that this was waiting for them... It's dunzo kids. Final chapter posted 627 12:11am
1. Hugs, Body Karate, and Jingle Singer

**A/N:** Hello everybody! I am back with a brand new fic. I've had this idea in my head for a few weeks now, and I'm just starting to put it down on paper. The first couple chapters start off slow, but it'll pick up once we get all the formalities out of the way. Bear with me, hopefully I can get this ball rolling and it'll turn into the fic I'm hoping it'll be! I'm going to be introducing a new character right off the bat so hopefully you'll like her! Point of views might be switching, I'm not entirely sure yet, but you'll be able to tell who's it is if I decide to make it that way.

* * *

**FEAR**

**Chapter 1: Hugs, Body Karate, and Jingle Singer Extraordinaire**

It was a typical day at King High. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the kids were cranky. I mean, who wouldn't be if they had to be in school on yet another gorgeous day like today right? Right, anyways it was lunch time and the hallways were bustling. Spencer, Aiden, and Kyla were on their way to the quad to meet Ashley for lunch.

"That calc test was brutal. Spencer how did you get done so fast?" Aiden groaned as he wrapped his arm around Kyla's shoulders.

"It wasn't that bad Aiden. We went over everything on it during class the other day, and it doesn't hurt that I studied like a mad woman. I feel kinda bad though, I've been neglecting Ashley because of it."

"Why didn't you just make her study with you?" Kyla asked, stopping at her locker to drop off a book.

"You know how she is when it comes to studying. She's more into the study breaks." Spencer rolled her eyes.

"Haha good point, good point. But I'm sure she understands, and besides you can make it up to her this weekend. You two deserve some quality time."

"True that Spence, you should come with Ky and me to the movies tomorrow night."

"That sounds fun, but I don't want to intrude on your date."

"You won't be intruding Spence," Kyla reassured. "I love doubling with you two, you sound like an old married couple hahaha."

Aiden and Kyla started cracking up while Spencer's jaw dropped. "Nuh uh! We so don't! Aiden, help me out here."

Trying to stifle his laughter Aiden replied, "Sorry Spence, she's right. It's cute though…really."

"You guys suck, you really do. But we'll talk to Ash about it when we get to the table. Speaking of, let's go. I'm starving!"

* * *

The group continued on towards the quad with idle chit chat and such. When they arrived at the entrance to the quad they scanned the area for the curly haired brunette.

"Where is she? She never misses lunch; it's her favorite period of the day."

They continued to look for her when Kyla spotted her, in an intimate embrace…and obviously it wasn't with Spencer.

"There she is." Kyla pointed to her half sister.

Spencer's eyes widened as she saw the display of affection.

"Who's she with? She looks kinda familiar." Aiden asked.

"I don't know, but they seem awfully chummy." Spencer remarked with a hint of jealousy.

"I'm sure it's just an old friend Spence, play it cool ok?" Kyla said trying to ease the girl's suspicions.

With all the drama after prom the last thing any of them wanted was problems to arise.

"Yeah, you're probably right. C'mon, let's go." Spencer said, rather unconvincingly.

* * *

The group trekked forth through the masses of hungry teens towards Ashley and the mystery girl. They were coming from behind Ashley so when they reached the table Spencer casually wrapped her arms around Ashley's waist and kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey Ash."

"Oh! Hey Spence! Where's Aiden and Kyla?"

"Right here." The duo replied in unison as they came around the other side.

"So who's this babe?" Spencer asked while looking the other girl up and down suspiciously.

"Yeah, geez Ash can't even introduce me to your friends? Gosh! Why do you hate me?" The mystery girl pouted as she saw Spencer sizing her up.

"Oh please, don't even start with that crap." Ashley said while unwrapping herself from Spencer's arms and standing next to the pouting girl. "Well Aiden you already know her but, Spencer, Kyla, this is my cousin Jessi."

"JESSI?!" Aiden squawked in utter disbelief.

"Hah, yeah that's right. What up pimp?" Jessi asked amused at his reaction.

"Uh, not too much. But, DAMN! You've changed since the last time I saw you. Shit."

"That's what a couple years do to a girl. And not to mention some, uh, bad choices I guess you'd say, but whatever. So how've you been kid? We haven't talked since what? The last time I was here?"

The last time Aiden had seen the girl she was only about 5' tall, shy, chubby, dressed like a tomboy, and had glasses. Now however, she was almost 5'6", thinner but with some muscle to her, prepped out with polo and all, and no glasses. She had brown hair with blonde highlights that went just past her shoulders and beautiful blue-green eyes.

"Been good, been good. Now are you gonna give me a hug or what?"

She walked up to the boy and gave him a big hug which he returned happily. After their embrace she looked towards Kyla.

"So you're the new sister huh?"

"Yep, that'd be me. Kyla." She said with a friendly smile while holding out her hand.

Instead she was taken by surprise with a rather large hug from the new girl. After the initial shock she hugged back, a bit awkwardly considering she'd known this girl for a matter of, ohhh, 30 seconds. Releasing from the hug and stepping back Jessi saw the bewildered look on the younger Davies' face.

"Sorry, I'm a hugging addict and plus, you're family so it's ok!" She said with a bright smile.

"Don't worry Ky, she's a bit crazy but you'll get used to it." Ashley told her sister.

Jessi turned towards Spencer and looked at her for a little bit. Ashley turned and saw her and spoke up.

"Ahh, Jessi, this is my _oh_ so amazing girlfriend Spencer."

"Nice to meet you." Spencer said holding out her hand.

"Oh so you're the girl that stole my cousin's heart huh? Well it's a pleasure to meet you."

They shook hands and as Spencer went to let go Jessi pulled her into a rather large hug of her own, successfully lifting the blonde off the ground.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa easy on the girlfriend Jess!" Ashley exclaimed.

Setting Spencer down, Jessi turned to Ashley.

"Damn Ash, chick has got body karate goin on!"

"Jess, you're straight and you have a boyfriend."

"So what? Am I not allowed to say when a girl is smokin'? Shit, I'd go gay for her!"

Spencer grinned and blushed.

"I don't think Nick would like that too much."

"Who cares? He and I are dunzo." Jessi said nonchalantly, but with a bit of sadness in her voice.

"WHAT?! But you two were together for like, two years! What happened?"

Ashley was shocked, to say the least. She knew how happy Nick made Jessi and how much she cared for him. They'd known each other since kindergarten and were always good friends, so it was really no surprise when they eventually got together.

"Well apparently he found his ex more appealing." Jessi replied head down with a frown that could break anyone's heart.

"Are you kidding me? Wait, which ex?"

"Caitlin; the pathological liar."

"Wow, what a douche. Seriously, if he's that stupid to get back with that chick there's something wrong with him." Ashley said trying to comfort her cousin.

"Yeah…maybe. It just sucks you know? Like…hardcore sucks."

Spencer felt bad for the new girl, sensing how much Ashley cared for her she tried to comfort her as well.

"He's just one guy Jessi. You seem like a really great girl, you can do better."

"I know he's just one guy, but I still love him. That's the sucky part. But whatever, I'm gonna get over him, I have to. There's no point in spending the rest of my life wanting something that obviously wasn't meant to last."

"Good. So who's hungry, cause I know that I am personally starving." Ashley said trying to get the topic off failed romances.

"I am." The rest of the group answered.

"Do you guys wanna go out to eat? I don't think administration would like it if a 20 something was hanging around school grounds and I'd really like to get to know more about the two new people in my cous's life. I'll even buy."

"Oh I'm so in! Anything to get out of this hell hole. What about you Spence?"

"I don't know Ash…I have that quiz in history I was _so_ looking forward to…"

"Ah, I see you snagged a sarcastic one Ash, I like her. What about you two?" Jessi asked of Kyla and Aiden who looked as though they were ready and rarin.

"For sure! I wanna catch up. What about you babe?" Aiden nudged Kyla a bit.

"Definitely. It's too gorgeous out to be locked up here." She said grinning.

"BALLIN! Let's roll! Ready break." Jessi exclaimed as she took off for the parking lot.

The group followed the chipper girl and piled into her Honda Civic.

* * *

"So where we headed kids?"

"Dairy queen."  
"McDonalds."  
"Burger King."  
"In N Out."

All the replies came at once.

"Riiiight. Jimmy John's it is!" Jessi said rolling her eyes.

"What's Jimmy John's?" Kyla asked from the backseat.

"Are you KIDDING me?!" Jessi replied whipping her head around to stare at the Baltimore native with wide eyes and mouth agape.

"Oh god…here we go…" Ashley mumbled while slipping lower in her seat.

"What? What's the big deal?" Spencer asked.

Jessi looked at Spencer, then back at Kyla, then back to Spencer with the same wide eyed, mouth agaped look she'd been wearing for the past minute. Kyla and Spencer looked at each other and shrugged.

"Jimmy John's is only THE greatest sub place EVER! EVER! Do you understand? EVER! Their subs are like…orgasmic! It's insane how good they are. Oh my god…Ash, where's the nearest Jimmy John's? We're taking these kids, NOW!"

Ashley looked over to her over enthused, sub loving cousin and frowned.

"Sorry Jess, there isn't one in L.A."

"What is this world coming to?! That's it. Screw college, I'm opening up a Jimmy John's here. This is ridiculous. But since we can't go there today, Subway it is." The eldest girl said as she turned back to face the steering wheel and started the car.

"Subway, eat fresh!" Aiden sang happily.

"Thank you Aiden, jingle singer extraordinaire." Ashley said, earning laughs from all the females.

Jessi put the car in reverse and burned rubber out of the parking lot. And off to Subway they went!


	2. GettingToKnowYous, Internships, nd plans

**Chapter 2: Getting To Know You's, Internships, and Weekend Plans**

The entire car ride to Subway was spent arguing over what kind of music to listen to. Aiden wanted to listen to country, Ashley wanted rock, Spencer and Kyla wanted Kelly Clarkson, and Jessi wanted rap. Since it was Jessi's car she eventually settled on making everyone happy, because she's just a people pleaser like that, and popped in one of her mix cd's that had a bit of everything on it. Everyone was quite surprised at how well all the music flowed together and even Ashley was singing along to Kelly Clarkson. Crazy huh?

After a good 20 minutes of driving they arrived at the restaurant, got their orders, and took a seat in a booth. As they were casually eating and drinking the silence at the table was starting to get to them, so Spencer jump started the conversation.

"So Jessi, what are you doing here in L.A.?"

"Well, I've always wanted to be able to say 'Dramaaa in the O.C.' so I figured the best way to do that would be to move out here and find a group of friends that could make drama over absolutely nothing, though I haven't been able to find L.C. and Heidi yet so my opportunities are quite limited right now." She replied completely serious.

Spencer looked at her like she was crazy.

"Spence, she's kidding. She's here for school." Ashley told the blonde.

"Ohhh, haha gotcha." Spencer replied, still a bit perplexed at Jessi's response.

"Hah, yeah sorry about that Spencer, I tend to be sarcastic like…all the time. But Ash is right, I'm here for school. Wisconsin wasn't really offering me what I want school wise, plus I've been there my entire life; it was definitely time for a change of scenery. I just transferred to UCLA."

"Oh that's cool! What do you want to do?" Kyla asked taking a bite of her sub.

"Well, I want to get involved with the media, mainly TV and so I did some research and I saw that UCLA has a really competitive program for their Film and Television major and when the students are seniors they get hooked up with internships. I thought about it and decided it was high time to do something that'll get me to where I want to go so I applied and I _just_ got in. I even got a sweet internship at MTV. I'm so excited."

"That's so awesome! I want to be an actress when I get older and I wanna go to UCLA sooo bad." Kyla replied excitedly.

"Well you're definitely in the right place for acting and judging by your enthusiasm about it I'm sure you'll have no problem landing roles and getting an agent. Plus, you're gorgeous, they'd be stupid to not offer you the role based on that alone." Jessi said as she smiled in Kyla's direction.

"Aww you're too sweet!" Kyla gushed.

"Yeah, I know. I'm pretty fricken amazing. Just kidding. Anyways, enough about me, what about little miss Spencer over here. What's your story?"

"Oh, uh, well I just moved here a few months ago from Ohio. I have two brothers, Glen and Clay. My mom's a doctor and my dad is a social worker. Umm, what else?"

Ashley looked over at the girl and poked her in the side.

"Uh, hello? What about _me_?" She pouted.

"Oh yeah. I met this girl one day, totally spilt her coffee all over and she freaked out majorly. Then she found me in the gym waiting for my brother to get done with basketball practice and she hasn't left me alone since." She finished with a cheeky grin which earned her another poke in the side.

"Oh sure, you just happen to forget the fact that I'm basically the love of your life. I see how it is." Ashley said while crossing her arms and looking the other way.

Spencer smiled and rolled her eyes as she turned Ashley's face to meet hers.

"You know, you're adorable when you're needy. And you also know that I love you with all my heart Ashie."

Ashley smiled and replied, "Aww, well I love you too babe."

She leaned in and gave Spencer a loving kiss on the lips. What would've been an almost intimate moment was interrupted.

"Ok gag me with a spoon the size of effing Texas." Jessi said.

The table looked at her as if she had grown another head.

"What? As adorable as you two are, your lovey doveyness is a bit more than I can handle right now." The oldest brunette remarked shrugging her shoulders. "So Aid, tell me what's been goin on with you."

Aiden caught her up on his life's happenings, including prom, which earned him a swift kick to the shin for all the trouble he caused, but was soon forgiven. Jessi got the low down on Kyla as well and was happy to hear that she and Aiden were together and happy. They went on to trade embarrassing stories from the past. Laughs were had by all and the group hadn't realized how long they'd been there.

"Whoa, it's 2:30 already. Hope those last couple classes had nothing important going on in them." Kyla said checking her phone for the time.

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

"What was that?" Ashley asked.

"Oh, that's my PDA. Hang on." Jessi replied while taking the gadget out of her purse. She checked her email and soon her stoic facial expression changed to that of a kid in a candy shop. "Shut UP!"

"What?" The group asked.

The Wisconsinite looked up, grin still plastered on her face.

"Ok, do you guys remember that show on MTV called Fear?"

"Uh not really." Aiden said shaking his head.

"Wait, that one where they sent people to 'haunted' locations and they had to do like tasks or whatever in order to get money?" Ashley questioned.

Jessi nodded vigorously. "Yeah!"

"Ok what about it?"

"Well, I just got an email saying that they're bringing the show back and the first episode they're gonna do is some place like, half an hour or so outside L.A. and I get to be on it! Oh my god this is so exciting!" She said bouncing up and down in her seat.

"Dude that's sweet! Do you know who else is going to be on it?" Aiden asked while sipping the last of his soda.

"No, but I will. They're letting me pick six other people to go on with me!" The girl nearly squealed.

"That's so awesome! Have any idea who you're gonna bring?" Spencer asked quite intrigued by the idea.

"Yeah cous, who are you gonna get to go with you?" Ashley winked.

"Haha well, since I don't really know that many people out here yet, you guys wanna come?"

"YEAH!" The teens yelled in unison.

"Sweet. Now all we need are two more people. Know anyone else that might wanna come?"

"What about Glen, Spence?" Ashley asked her girlfriend as she wrapped an arm around her waist.

"I'm sure he'll do it. But who else?"

"Madison?" Kyla suggested.

"Whoa wait, Madison? Madison as in 'it's my person mission in life to ruin Ashley's life' Madison?" Jessi inquired, obviously having heard of all the crap the girl had put Ashley through over the years.

"The one and only," Ashley said. "But she's not that bad anymore actually. She apologized at prom and though we're not exactly best friends again, we're not bitchy to each other. Plus, she and Glen are dating so it's kind of hard to stay out of each other's way."

"Whoa, she apologized? Did the hell mouth open up?"

Yeah, they're _definitely_ related.

"Well, as long as she's not causing you problems anymore I'm fine with her coming. It's this weekend. Starting Saturday evening and ending Sunday morning. The email said there'll be a package waiting for me at my apartment with all the information and stuff so I'll give Ash a call and she can fill everyone in. I'd better get you guys back to the school though so you can get your cars." Jessi told the group as they got up from the booth and threw their trash away.

The group of five walked to the car talking about how excited they were for the weekend's events. If only they knew what loomed ahead…


	3. Articles, Bets, and Welcome to St Aug's

**A/N:** A quick thanks to all those that have reviewed so far. It does a lovely job of boosting my self esteem which is quite low haha. Anywho, here be the third chapter. I do hope you enjoy it!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Articles, Bets, and Welcome to St. Augustine's**

The rest of the week went by quickly for the group and they were all anxious for what was to come that weekend. As the group packed up their gear in Aiden's X-Terra and Glen's car, Ashley double checked the locks on the house. It was almost 5 o'clock and when everything was a-go they piled into their respective cars; Aiden, Kyla, Spencer, Ashley, and Jessi in Aiden's X-Terra and Glen and Madison in Glen's car; and were off.

Ten minutes into the drive the two couples in the X-Terra were having their own conversations and Jessi was deeply involved in reading some information she'd printed off prior to departure. Spencer glanced over at her and noticed her furrowed brow. The blonde nudged her girlfriend and motioned to her right.

"Jess what's up?" Ashley asked.

"Huh?" Jessi looked up, "Oh, um, nothing really." She went back to her papers.

Ashley and Spencer shared a look and pressed on.

"What are you reading?" Spencer inquired.

"Just some stuff on where we're going." The eldest brunette said evenly without looking up.

Ashley rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Vague much? Geez! Lemme see."

"No do-"

She was cut off as Ashley grabbed some of the papers out of her cousin's lap and handed a few to Spencer. The younger girls looked over them and their brows furrowed as well. They looked at Jessi who, in turn, frowned and dropped her head.

"Now do you see why I didn't want you to look at them?"

"All this stuff really happened there? No wonder they closed it down." Ashley said shaking her head in disbelief.

"What's going on?" Kyla said finally joining the conversation.

Ashley handed her the articles and grabbed more from Jessi.

"Holy crap." Was all Kyla could manage after reading the material.

"What? What am I missing out on?" Aiden asked desperately from the driver's seat.

Spencer filled him in and he looked none too thrilled.

"I'm not feeling too good about this anymore guys. Maybe we should call it off." Kyla said as she continued reading another article.

"We can't just call it off Ky and besides, are you really going to let a couple ghost stories scare you off?" Ashley teased and poked her in the side.

Kyla turned in her seat and glared at her half sister.

"No, I'm not! I bet I'll be less scared than you when we get there!" The young Davies challenged.

"Bad move Kyla." Jessi said as she smirked at the scene in front of her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked the oldest girl.

Aiden placed his hand on his girlfriend's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

"She means that no one makes bets with Ashley because if and when she wins the loser ends up having to do some really…embarrassing things." He said as he looked away in a futile attempt to hide his red face.

"Whatsa matter Aid? Why the blush?" Jessi chuckled.

"Oh I know what he's blushing about." Spencer giggled, "Don't worry Aiden, I'd be embarrassed too if I was a guy and had to wea-"

"SPENCER!" Aiden yelled cutting the blonde off.

"What? What were you gonna say Spence? I wanna know!" Kyla said hoping to dig up some dirt on her boy toy.

"Ohh it's so good Kyla." Jessi said, well aware of the story Spencer alluded to.

"Jessi! Enough!" Aiden said growing redder by the minute.

"Will someone tell me what happened?!" Kyla practically screamed.

Ashley caught Aiden's eyes in the rearview mirror. There was a mixture of emotions; mainly pleading and embarrassment. She almost felt bad for coming out with it.

Almost.

"I made him wear manties." Ashley burst, followed by an uproar of laughter from all four females.

"And to make it even better, it was to the beach!" Spencer reported.

"Oh…my god. No guy should _ever_ wear those. EVER." Kyla said between fits of laughter.

The boy glared at his girlfriend which only served to make the girls laugh harder.

"Spencer I don't know why you're laughing. You've lost tons of bets to Ashley and the stuff she made you do was pretty embarrassing." Aiden said trying to switch the heat from him to her.

Spencer looked over to Ashley who did her nose wrinkle smile and winked at her. She grinned happily and began to blush.

"Aid, you have no idea what I made Spencer do in terms of our bets. Trust me; the day she had to give me piggyback rides to each class and had to wear the shirt that said 'I'm Ashley's bitch' were only small parts of it. The other part…well, let's just say we _both_ got something out of that." Ashley said with a dreamy look on her face. Obviously remembering what went on before and after school.

Oh yeah, and during lunch, gym, and their free period. "Oh what a day that was." The curly haired girl beamed with a smile that took up her whole face.

"Ok _so_ didn't need to know my sister's sexual experiences." Kyla said trying to block the images from entering her head.

"I'm right there with you Kyla." Jessi said shaking her head attempting to clear it of bad thoughts and also of the bad feelings she was getting about their upcoming night.

Forty minutes later the group of seven found themselves face to face with a behemoth of a two story building. Red brick and gothic style architecture; gargoyles and all, made up the structure. Three bell towers, shooting high into the sky; the shorter two, were situated so one was on each end of the building; and the tallest, sitting high above the entrance; posed a silent but ominous threat.

The sun that had begun to set started creating eerie shadows within the building and as an unexpected breeze brushed past the group, Spencer reflexively grabbed for Ashley's hand as a shiver passed through all their bodies.

Ashley turned to Spencer and whispered into her ear.

"Don't worry baby, I won't let anything happen to you."

Spencer turned to her with an uneasy smile and pecked her on the lips.

"I love you Ash."

"Love you too Spencey poo." Ashley giggled.

"Nerd." Jessi muttered after she heard the pet name Ashley had just used.

"You're one to talk miss 'I'm obsessed with The Magic Bullet infomercial.'" Ashley mocked.

"Hey now! What do you have against Mick and Mimi? What, you been sippin on some Haterade?!" Jessi questioned the younger girl.

"Ok, the fact you know their names is just sad."

"Nuh uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nuh uh!" Jessi reiterated closing the distance between herself and her cousin.

"Yeah huh!"

"Play nice children." Spencer interjected, stepping in between the two girls as the preschool exchange was quite old.

"Geez you two act more like sisters than Ashley and Kyla do." Madison said.

"It happens." Ashley replied as she turned to look at her actual sister. "Don't worry Ky, we'll be having exchanges like that in no time."

Kyla grinned and sarcastically returned, "Oh _goody_!"

"Oh please, you know you want to. It's too fun and childish to not enjoy. And with the more you do, the better they get." Jessi said throwing an arm around Ashley's shoulders.

"By better I'm guessing you mean more immature?" Spencer quipped light heartedly.

"Thata girl! See, I knew I liked you Spencer. You're quick on the uptake. Better not let her get away Ash, I'm serious."

Ashley looked directly into Spencer's ocean blue eyes, smiled, and said, "Never. She's stuck with me for life."

"Damn!" Spencer retorted with a big grin.

"Right, so anyways. When are we gonna get this thing going cause it's getting dark." Aiden inquired.

Glancing at her phone for the time Jessi stepped in front of the group.

"Ok guys, it's time. The instructions said to go to the 'safe house' at 6."

"LET'S HIT IT!" Glen yelled as he took Madison's hand and practically dragged her to the shelter.

Everyone grabbed their gear and followed his lead. Jessi accidentally dropped her cell phone and as she looked up from picking it up she took one last look at the spooky building in the fading daylight. Something in a second story window caught her eye.

"Jess what are you looking at?" Ashley asked running back over to the girl

She looked at her cousin and then did a double take back to the window.

"Uh, nothing. Let's go." She replied shaking her head.

Whatever was there, if there was anything, was already gone. The girls caught up with the rest of the group in the safe house.

"Ok, now what?" Aiden asked as he plopped himself in an empty chair.

Jessi situated herself at the laptop that was set up on the desk and clicked on the button that was labeled '_Begin_'.

The screen changed into what seemed to be a computer game.

"Guys, come here. You need to watch this." She said.

The group gathered around as a voice started to speak.

"_Welcome to St. Augustine's, we hope you enjoy your stay, for you may never leave once you enter. Your salvation is in your hands and your hands alone. The only way to make it out…is to face your fear._"


	4. Back Stories, Colors, and Rituals

**A/N: **Ok sorry! This took a little longer than expected. Dear god I struggled through this one. I wanted to have you get all the details without it being so wordy and stuff, but the only way to get you the details was to make it all wordy haha. Damn...anyways, here's chapter 4. And hopefully I can get three more chapters typed up today. Because I haven't written beyond this point...so I'm not entirely sure when I'll have a new update for youuu. But hopefully this one suffices for now. Oh! And thank you once again to those of you who are reviewing. Makes me smile :-)! Oh! One last thing, I borrowed part of the prayer from the movie Stay Alive. If you haven't seen it...go do so. I lurve it.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Back Stories, Colors, and Rituals**

"_Welcome to St. Augustine's, we hope you enjoy your stay, for you may never leave once you enter. Your salvation is in your hands and your hands alone. The only way to make it out…is to face your fear._"

The group exchanged wary glances with each other.

"They're just saying this to get us all scared right?" Madison asked with a slight shake in her voice.

"Uh, yeah…I'm sure that's it…" Glen said a bit hesitant.

"Yeah, that's gotta be it. Otherwise how else are they supposed to get the best of us when we head in there right? They know it'll be stuck in the back of our heads while we're doing whatever and we'll start imagining things." Aiden commented almost confident in his statement.

"Right, so let's just get this thing going so we can be done with it." Ashley said while taking a seat on the desk.

Jessi clicked the mouse again and the voice continued.

"_Tonight you will be forced to face your greatest fears. There are many secrets hidden within the walls of St. Augustine's; secrets that you will uncover while completing your assigned tasks. Before we get to the fun you must first be briefed to the tragic history that is St. Augustine's. Prepare yourself, for what you are about to hear is anything but pleasant. Click the icon labeled History._"

Jessi looked to the rest of the group, "You guys ready for this?"

"Yes." They responded in unison.

She took a deep breath and clicked the icon. The screen immediately changed to a timeline. Automatically, an old picture of the building with a man standing proudly in front of it popped up and the voice spoke again.

"_St. Augustine's Preparatory School was established in 1887 by Reverend Thomas Quinn. Quinn named the school after his late wife who was mysteriously murdered two years prior. According to town records the woman was found with her throat slit and abdomen sliced open and missing internal organs, including her heart._"

"That's so sad." Spencer said.

"Uh yeah, and totally disgusting!" Kyla added.

"_10 years after the school opened, a string of murders occurred causing a temporary closure of the building as authorities conducted their search. As it turned out, Reverend Quinn had been the one to commit the dastardly deed. Five students lost their lives to the deranged man, but when the police arrived to take the man to jail they were met with yet another bloody scene. Quinn had committed suicide in his office, taking a pistol to his head, leaving only his body and a note detailing the murders, including his wife's._"

"Psychotic much?" Ashley asked while raising an eyebrow.

"_Quinn and the five students were buried in the school's cemetery and a new headmaster was instated. Things remained quiet at St. Augustine's for a good number of years. However, early in 1939 numerous reports from students and faculty alike about strange activity happening around campus started to arise. Things like seeing the figure of a man dressed in preacher attire wandering the halls at any given hour, hearing disembodied screams between midnight and 2am, and objects being thrown across classrooms by unseen forces. In the fall of that same year three more deaths occurred._"

The picture of Quinn zoomed back to the timeline and the line that was once gold, was turned red as it moved towards the year 1939. Pictures of newspaper articles and photos of the three victims flashed onto the screen. The first article zoomed in and soon the entire screen was taken up, half by the article and the other half by the photo of the boy.

"_The first in late September; a student by the name of Billy was wandering about the basement, a place that was strictly off limits except for faculty, and tripped over a wrench that had been left out after fixing a leaky pipe. As the boy fell forward he successfully knocked over a stack of heavily packed boxes which, in turn, fell on top of him. He was found three days later by a janitor. His ribs were shattered and punctured his lungs, which ultimately caused his death._"

"That sucks so bad dude. To die all alone and like that on top of it?" Aiden remarked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

The article and picture zoomed back out and the second article and picture zoomed in.

"She's so pretty!" Madison exclaimed.

"_The second death took place in mid October. The girl in the photo, Annie, was a straight A student, president of the debate team, and one of the richest students in school. She seemed to have everything anyone could want, but something had been amiss in her life, for on that faithful night in October Annie climbed the stairs of the tallest bell tower, strung up the noose, and hung herself. Reports from those closest to the girl stated that she had been 'acting strangely' for a few weeks prior to the suicide. Apparently the girl had commented about seeing an apparition in the hallway of a young girl begging for help, but no one believed her. Only a week after Annie's death other students reported seeing the same spirit but the staff believed it to be nothing but a sick joke._"

"Right…so, is there really any way we can like, not do this?" Kyla pleaded as she looked around at the rest of the group.

"Don't worry Ky, nothing is going to happen in there. They probably just set up speakers and projectors to scare us. Like that saying goes, 'The only thing to fear is fear itself.' And besides, I won't let anything happen to you!" Aiden said as he put his arm around the girl's shoulder.

The final article and picture zoomed in.

"_The last death of 1939 happened in late November. Samuel Prescott, the boy in the photo, was in his first year at St. Augustine's and was by far the top student in his class. He didn't have many friends however and was picked on regularly. Accounts of the incident say the boy died in a simple broom closet. Several students tried to help the boy but the door was locked. When they tried to explain to him to simply unlock the door from his side he replied that there was no lock. Samuel's screams and pounding on the door were getting more persistent and he claimed there was something in the closet with him. When the boy suddenly went silent panic outside the door ensued. When they finally got the door open Samuel spilled out, unmoving, with a look of shock on his face. As suspected, no one else was in the closet. He was dead, the doctors ruled from a panic attack. A surprising discovery was yielded from the autopsy; bruising on his wrists that could have only been formed by someone else._"

"Please tell me that's the last of the dying." Madison said with a look of worry on her face.

"Yeah seriously, there can't be anymore can there?" Glen added.

"Oh yes there can…" Jessi sighed as she clicked the mouse again.

The screen returned to the timeline view. Red tainted the golden line as it traveled further through time. It stopped at 1946 and two articles and pictures were brought to the screen. The first was of a woman that looked to be in her 30's and the second was of a handsome boy no older that 17.

"_In the summer of 1945 the school underwent major renovations in order to add on a new science wing and also a new gymnasium as well as an indoor swimming pool. However, during construction of the pool the builders realized they would need more room than previously thought. Now the issue they faced, how to go about getting the room when the long standing cemetery was blocking the way. The school felt it necessary to have the pool in order to attract more students so they allowed the exhumation of the bodies._"

"What does exhume mean?" Madison asked.

"Dig up." Kyla told the Latina.

"Ewww! They dug up dead people? That's just wrong."

"_After the bodies were removed construction went on without incident. All three projects were finished in time for the new school year and as intended, enrollment at the school increased. Along with new students came new teachers as well thanks to the new science wing. The school year went on and things seemed to be going perfectly. The new swim team was ranked number one and their top swimmer, Jake Harper, was being scouted by top colleges. In May 1946 however, things took a turn for the worse._"

The article and picture of the boy zoomed in.

"_After swim practice one day Jake apparently decided to stay after in order to get some extra lane time in. Being the best swimmer on the team the coach allowed it without question. The next morning brought a shocking discovery, Jake was found dead in the pool floating face down in the middle of the pool. Police reported it as an accidental death. Weeks after, two swimmers from the team were finishing laps. As they were getting out of the pool one was pulled back in and under. His teammate dove back in and rescued the boy. When asked what happened, he stated that someone or something was holding him under. After that, it was decided the pool be closed permanently._"

The screen changed to the article and picture of the woman.

"_On May 28th, 1946 another life was lost. This time it was that of a staff member; Miss Jackie Van Every. A new face to St. Augustine's the woman was always pleasant and always willing to help. She was a welcome addition to the faculty, bringing a new perspective and fresh teaching methods to the science department. Fellow teachers and students alike were all fond of her and when she lost her life that day, it was a major blow. It happened after school while she was setting up a demonstration for the next day. As she struck the match the entire room was engulfed in a giant fireball. The room burned to practically nothing, taking the woman with it. Authorities later discovered a tap on a gas release was turned in the on position, thus causing the room to fill with the lethal toxin. The room was barricaded to prevent students from entering, but reports state that on several occasions the sounds of a woman screaming and the smell of something burning were coming from the classroom. As the year finished the school board met and ultimately decided to close down St. Augustine's for good._"

"Jesus…how they stayed open for that long is just crazy." Glen commented.

"It's so sad. All those people died so horribly." Spencer said with tears in her eyes.

"We're not done yet," Jessi said looking at the screen. "The line's still moving."

The group regarded the screen again, slowly the gold line turned red and stopped on the year 1965. The article popped up on the screen and Ashley screamed.

"AHH!"

Everyone looked at her with questions in their eyes.

"I HATE clowns…" The girl said looking away.

"_The last known death at the school was that of Ray Bowers, also known as 'The Funhouse Slaughterer'. Bowers earned the nickname by going carnivals masqueraded as a clown, entering the funhouse, and murdering unsuspecting victims, sometimes going as far as keeping a piece of their anatomy as a prize._"

"See! That's why I hate clowns! They're all psychotic killers." Ashley stated firmly.

"_One night while being chased by the police, Bowers sought a hideout. He found St. Augustine's and attempted to enter the building through the front door, but found it locked. The police were closing in so he resorted to breaking one of the windows and climbing in. As sirens and flashing lights approached the building Bowers ran about the school looking for a hiding place. The police burst into the school and were hot on his trail. They reached the second floor and searched every room. Coming to number 215 they discovered Bowers dead; dressed in full clown attire and impaled by his knife right through the heart._"

The article zoomed out, showing the timeline. One last time the gold was turned red as it traveled down the line, finally coming to a stop at 2007.

"_Now that you know the bloody history of St. Augustine's, it is time to accept your fate and enter the building for what may very well be, your last night alive. The first task you must complete is by far the easiest you will face tonight. Each player is to choose a color and put on an article of clothing of that color. The colors are as follows; Red, Blue, Orange, Green, Pink, Black, and White._"

"I call red!" Glen said raising his hand.

"Pink!" Madison squealed.

"Orange for me." Kyla said.

"I'll take green I guess." Aiden said, not really caring what color he had.

"Black is _so_ mine." Ashley stated.

"Spencer? What color would you like, blue or white?" Jessi asked.

"Oh it doesn't really matter to me. Whatever color you don't pick."

"Ok miss indecisive it's your pick because I honestly don't care."

"Spence, be blue. Be blue 'cause you already wear that color so well." Ashley said seizing her girlfriend's hand and looking into her eyes.

The younger girl smiled and looked down bashfully, "Kay…I'll be blue!"

"And that leaves me with white. Dandy, it'll show off my albinoness even more!" Jessi joked.

The group got changed and returned to the desk. Clicking the mouse once more the screen turned black.

"_Now the time has come. The question is, are you ready to face your fear? Go to the school chapel and find the round table. Instructions will follow your arrival._"

They walked towards in silence. The couples grasped their partner's hand as Jessi led the way; stone faced but with worry running wild in her eyes.

As they entered the chapel they were caught off guard as a caldron set ablaze on its own. Surrounding the caldron was a table with two bags of each color. Everyone took the spot by their colors as Jessi read the paper left by hers.

"Each of you should have two bags in front of you. One contains a map, a list of instructions, and an object linking you to the area you will be searching. The one on the left is to be thrown into the fire before you after reciting the prayer on the bag. Everyone please recite now."

"_Come to me clouds, may you rise as an evil storm born to rip them open. As Death surrounds me I will not run. Fate has brought me here for a purpose that I shall fulfill. May the blood that courses through my veins cleanse this place; I pray you._"

The seven picked up the left hand bag and tossed them into the fire. Two seconds later a brilliant flash of lights, colored the same as the each player, erupted from the fire. As everyone looked at each other, a cool breeze flowed through the room and the fire went out. An eerie, disembodied laugh sounded through the room.

"_Hahahahahaha._"

"What have I done?" Jessi asked to herself.


	5. Placing The Blame and Facing Your Fears

**A/N:** So this is a bit of a filler chapter…but nonetheless needed. It's totally short I know. But like I said, it's needed. And I didn't get a chance to write tonight. Totally wiped. Got 0 sleep the last couple nights because first the power done went out and I'm weird and can't sleep without the tv on…so when the power finally came back on at 1224 am I was wide awake for like..hours. not fun. And then I just couldn't friggin fall asleep cuz my brain was running wild with thoughts of/for this fic and others. Oh, I also need to let you all know, St. Augustine's is set up in a square. So like, the whole school is connected. So they cant just go out into the courtyard and run around to the other side of the building, back to the safe house, get their shit, and go. No, no, that would be much too easy!

* * *

**Chapter 5: Placing The Blame and Facing Your Fears**

"What have I done?" Jessi asked herself.

"What the hell was that?!" Glen exclaimed.

"We need to get out of here. NOW!" Jessi forcefully said as she ran out of the chapel and down the hall. "Guys, NOW! I'm not kidding. We need to fucking book it!" The girl yelled.

The group took off after her. They made their way down the long, dark hallway, only illuminated by the moon outside, as fast as they could. They neared the front entrance, but soon heard the heavy wooden doors slam shut. The sheer force of the slam caused a small tremor to run throughout the hall, through the floor, as the echo sounded throughout the emptiness.

They reached the door and tried to open it, but to no avail. The same disembodied laugh sounded through the hallways.

"_Hahahahaha._"

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Ashley screamed.

"_Your worst nightmare._"

"We need to find another door. An open window. Something!" Aiden panicked.

"_You'll find that escape is impossible. All the doors are locked. All the windows cannot be broken._"

Jessi leaned against the heavy wooden doors, jaw clenched, eyes screwed shut with silent tears in her eyes that threatened to fall.

"This is all my fault." She said as she slid down the door onto the floor knees bent in front of her. "This is ALL MY FUCKING FAULT!" She held her head in her hands and she rested her elbows on her knees.

Ashley knelt down next to her cousin. "Jess, this isn't your fault ok? You didn't know-"

"DAMN IT ASHLEY! YES IT IS!" The girl lashed out as she slammed her head back into the door, eyes still shut. "I knew…"

"You knew what?" Ashley asked, perplexed.

Jessi opened her eyes and turned to her cousin, voice barely above a whisper. "I knew this was going to happen."

"How could you know? How could you know and still let us come here?!" Now it was Ashley's turn to lash out. "Do you want us to all die here?!" She stood in front of the girl as she fumed.

Jessi clenched her jaw again and forced herself to stand.

"OF COURSE I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE HERE! For god sakes Ashley I love you! You're my fucking family! I care about you above anything else. Hell, I'd give my life just to save yours! Any of yours!" The 20 something said as she addressed the rest of the group.

"How did you know this was going to happen, Jessi? How is that possible?" Spencer asked as she stepped next to her girlfriend.

Jessi sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She paced the foyer a little bit before she began.

"Ok. A couple months ago, before I met any of you, well ya know besides Aiden and Ashley of course, I had this crazy ass dream. I was here, running through the hallways screaming for someone to help me. I got here," she gestured around the foyer, "and the doors slammed shut. Then that damn voice started laughing and I asked it who it was, it said 'your worst nightmare.' I tried to find another door, tried to break the damn windows but he just said the same thing. 'All the doors are locked. None of the windows will break.' So I wandered the school…trying to find any possible way to get out…"

The brunette trailed off as she looked down the opposite hallway they'd just come from. Her bottom lip quivered and the tears she held back before, worked their way down her cheeks.

"What happened, Jess? What happened in the rest of your dream?" Kyla asked as she embraced the girl.

Jessi continued to stare down the hallway. She gasped suddenly.

"Oh god…"

That was all she got out before she turned back to the door. She pulled, punched, kicked, and screamed at the thing until Aiden and Glen had to pull the hysterical girl away.

Everyone gathered around her as she sat back down and brought her knees to her chest. Her face was the perfect image of scared shitless. She rocked herself back and forth slowly.

"Jessi what is going on? What was that spaz attack about?" Ashley questioned seriously worried about the girl.

She looked up into Ashley's big brown eyes as fear ran a triple marathon through hers.

"The ghosts…they're here. They're real."

"What are you talking about?"

"When I was looking down the hall," the girl raised a shaky hand and pointed down the long corridor, "I saw it. I saw it…" She said as she continued to rock back and forth.

"They can't hurt you Jess. There's nothing to be scared of." Spencer cooed as she placed a hand on Jessi's knee while she tried to calm the girl.

"You don't understand!" Jessi whimpered. "They _can_ hurt you."

"How is that possible?" Madison asked.

"I don't know! This place is fucking cursed! Haven't you heard the stories of Alcatraz and shit? People getting pushed down stairs or stuff like that?"

She suddenly stopped rocking; face going completely stoic. She stood up, walked towards the door, and tried the handle once more; still locked. She turned back to the group who in return just looked at her like she was insane.

"What? Don't look at me like that." Jessi ordered.

"Well, sorry…I mean. First you're geeking out blaming yourself, then you're bawling your eyes out because of that dream, then you're geeking out again because you saw something in the hallway, then you're rocking back and forth on the floor like a psychopath, and now you're completely calm. Bipolar much?" Glen said as he stared at the girl in utter disbelief.

"Well…yeah, I've been told that. Ohh good ol' softball…but that's not important right now. Remember what the thing on the laptop said? It said our salvation was in our hands. And the prayer? It said fate brought us here for a purpose we have to fulfill. And what has been the repeated quote unquote mantra?" She asked.

"Face your fears." The group responded.

"Exactly." The Wisconsinite said as she turned back to the doors. "The only way we're getting out of here…play the damn game. We have to do whatever it is we were brought here to do. Whatever is in those bags, wherever in this cursed pile of bricks we have to go, we have to do it." She turned to face the group yet again. "Unless you want to die here…personally, I'd prefer to not become another statistic. And the longer we stand here doing nothing…the sooner we become statistics."

"Let's get the fuck out of here then." Aiden said as he picked up his bag off the floor.

The rest of the group followed suit. They opened them and found walkie talkies and flashlights as well as the other items they were previously told about.

"Ok, everyone turn the walkie talkies to channel 6." Jessi told them.

"Why 6?" Glen asked.

"Cause it's my lucky number." She answered with a smile.

They did as they were told and proceeded to take out their maps and list of instructions.

Jessi stepped in front of the group once again.

"Everyone ready?"

"Do we really have a choice?" Aiden quipped.

"Nope."

"Then I guess the answer is yes."

"Ok. Good luck everyone."

The couples went to their significant others and whispered 'I love you's' and reveled a bit in the good luck kisses. As everyone turned to go their separate ways, Madison remained planted.

"Wait!" The Latina cried out.

"What?"

"We-we're not sticking together? Y'know, the whole 'safety in numbers' thing?"

"Madison, we have to do this alone. Trust me, I'd love for all of us to stick together. It could put my paranoia to rest…but we can't. You have your walkie talkie if you need help ok? I promise, we're going to make it through this. _All _of us. I refuse to let anything happen to any of you. I'll kill myself before any harm comes to my friends." Jessi reasoned with the girl.

She merely nodded in response.

They all turned again, headed towards an unknown fate. Ashley looked down at her instruction sheet to see which room she was assigned. A look of horror quickly spread across her now pale face.

"No FUCKING way!" She screamed.

"What?" Jessi asked the girl.

"There's no fucking way in hell I'm going in that room. You know I hate clowns. I refuse. I'm not doing it. Nuh uh, no fucking way." She replied in defiance.

Jessi sighed and shook her head. "Spencer! Come here quick."

The blonde trotted over. Jessi leaned over and whispered into her ear. The younger girl giggled, smiled, and nodded. Jessi gave her a hug and turned to her defiant cousin.

"Hey, rebel without a clue, you're doing it. Like I told Madison, you have your walkie talkie ok? I'm not that far from you, I have to go to Psycho Mcpsycherson's office! I'd rather deal with Mr. Slice and Dice than Quinn, but that's not how it works."

"But! BUT!" Ashley whined.

"Aaaash." Spencer called to her girlfriend.

Ashley turned and looked at the blonde, who had sidled up to her.

"If you do it, when we get out of here I'll buy you Ben and Jerry's…" she trailed off.

"Spence, I can get Ben and Jerry's my-"

She got cut off as Spencer leaned down to whisper into her ear.

"And I'll let you eat it off of me…you can put it _any_where." She finished as she nibbled the curly haired girls earlobe, a notoriously soft spot for her.

Naturally she gave in and with a final good luck kiss they parted. Prepared to face their fears once, and for all.


	6. Coulrophobia

**A/N:** Hey guys, sorry this took so long. I just totally spaced and could not work up the motivation to work on it. But don't worry, I'm definitely going to finish. This week kicked my ass and I'm still trying to recover sleep wise, but so far so good. No plans means more time, and more time means more chapters. So stay sweet. And thanks again for the reviews!

* * *

**Chapter 6: Coulrophobia**

Ashley clicked on her flashlight.

"Jesus Christ how did I get roped into this? Next time someone says something about going to a haunted house or anything like that…I'm so not going. Screw that. It's nice, safe, adventures for this girl from now own."

She walked down the hallway as she kept an eye out for a stairwell that would take her up to the second floor. If she had been honest with herself, she'd admit she was the most scared she'd ever been in her life just being there alone. But Ashley didn't want to be honest with herself. Nope, that was just not an option right now.

"God where the hell is it?!"

"To your right."

"AHHH!" Ashley screamed as she flashed her light towards the voice.

"Dude, turn off your brights, I'm blind enough as it is thanks."

"Jessi don't do that!" The girl said as she clutched her chest.

"Sorry Ash. You have to admit though, it was kinda funny." Jessi said with a toothy grin.

"Not so much, ass. What are you even doing here?"

"Well, I was looking for Quinn's office but this map is complete and utter bullshit." She explained as she held up the map.

Ashley walked over and took it out of her hand and examined it. She then looked at hers. Back and forth her eyes went, map to map.

"You have a map of the second floor, that's why. Quinn's office is on the first. Here, take mine. They gave me the wrong one too."

Ashley handed Jessi the right map and headed up the stairs.

"Ash, wait a minute." Jessi called after her.

She stopped and turned around towards her cousin.

"What is it? I just wanna get this over with."

"Be careful ok? Don't go do something stupid that could get you hurt or killed."

Ashley looked deep into her eyes. This was the first time she'd ever seen her cousin like this; genuinely scared and full of worry.

"I'll be fine Jess. Go take care of what you gotta do."

Jessi smirked, nodded to Ashley, and walked down the hall. As Ashley continued up the stairs she heard her cousin yell.

"Aight you sick sumamabitch! Get ready cuz I'ma go gangstaaa on ya punk ass!"

She laughed to herself, "Oh my god, my cousin is a freak."

"Heard that, jerkface! You just wish you could be gangsta like me." Jessi yelled back.

"What are you? Part dog with that hearing?"

"Selective hearing and empty hallways equal great things my dear. Now go take a visit to that not so amusing clown. And jack him in the face for me. Kthanks!"

Ashley laughed again and trotted up the steps with an extra bounce in her stride. Sometimes Jessi being Jessi could just calm her down and make everything better.

She finally reached the second floor, slightly out of breath.

"Ok, so pretty much…no more junk food. I'm obviously getting fat if I'm winded after two flights of stairs." Ashley panted out.

She traipsed down the hallway as she shined her flashlight on the door numbers.

"199…201…209…213…215. Damn…I was really hoping it wouldn't exist…ok, you can do this Davies. You. Can. Do this."

Ashley took a deep breath and opened the door. As she looked around the room she didn't notice anything disconcerting, so she walked further in. She got to about the middle of the room and took out the other paper in her bag and read it aloud.

"Welcome to room 215."

_Psht…yeah. Welcome my ass…_ Ashley thought to herself.

"Go into your bag and take out the object connected with this room."

_I swear to god if it's a finger or something I'm so out of here._

She reached into the bag and pulled out the object. It was a knife; a knife with a five inch, double edged blade and a stainless steel handle. The blade itself looked a bit rusty, but the handle looked flawless. As Ashley inspected the handle further she noticed it had been engraved with two simple initials.

_R.B._

"Lovely. I'm holding the freak's knife!"

A second after Ashley said that, the door slammed shut. She turned quickly, dropped the knife, and ran over to it and tried to open it.

"No. No, no, no, no, no. NO! OPEN YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

It was no use, the door was locked.

"Well this is just fucking great…" She said as she walked back over to where she'd dropped her things.

She picked up her walkie talkie.

"Jess?"

"Yes Ashie poo."

"Ashie poo? Hahaha what the hell?"

"Aiden, shut up. I wasn't calling you."

"Sorry."

"What do you need Ash, I'm just about to go in the office."

"I need you to come open the door."

"Uh, isn't it already open?"

"Yeah, it was."

"So what's the- wait. Was?"

"Yeah, was. Meaning it's not anymore."

"What happened?"

"I was reading the instruction paper and it just slammed shut. I tried to open it but it won't budge."

"Ok well…did you do whatever it was you were supposed to?"

"No, the whole door slamming shut kinda freaked me out ya know? Actual haunted school and stuff."

"Alright, do what you have to do and I'll be right up."

"Ok…hurry though."

"I'm on the way!"

Ashley put the walkie talkie down and reached for the instruction sheet.

"In a corner of the room you'll find a life size clown doll. Take the knife and drive it through its heart. The goal of this act is to evoke the spirit of Ray Bowers in order to gain contact with him."

_Fucking great…_

She picked up the knife and searched for the doll. There in the corner to the right of the door sit a clown doll; a clown doll with a very disturbing smile. A clown doll that had eyes that just blinked.

"A clown doll that just fucking took a breath and stood up! OH HELL NO!"

Ashley dashed for the walkie talkie.

"JESSICA LYNN, GET YOUR ASS UP HERE RIGHT NOW! RIGHT THE FUCK NOW! THE CLOWN IS ALIVE! I REPEAT. THE CLOWN. IS. ALIVE!" she screamed.

Jessi, who had just come up to the second floor, raced down the hall to room 215. She tried the door knob; locked. She pounded on the door with her fists and tried to force the door open with her shoulder. It didn't work so she yelled for Ashley.

"Ash! Ash are you ok?!"

"JESSI GET ME OUT OF HERE! HE'S GONNA KILL ME!"

"Ash calm down! You have to calm down ok!"

"CALM DOWN?! YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM THE FUCK DOWN WHEN A MURDERING PSYCHOTIC CLOWN IS ABOUT TO KILL ME?!"

"Yes! Not the easiest circumstances to do it in, I realize that, but hunny, you have to!"

"HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?!"

Jessi sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She racked her brain for a way, but she'd never really had to calm the girl down before. Well, besides the time Ashley had a nightmare…

"But that would mean she'd have to…oh she's so not gonna want to…Ash, remember that time you spent the night when we were younger and you woke up from that nightmare?"

"YEAH? HOW THE HELL IS REMEMBERING THAT GOING TO HELP?!"

"Ok, well…I'm gonna need you to go ahead and do what we did last night."

Ashley turned to the door and stared at in disbelief. But she turned back to face the clown who was slowly inching towards her, a knife of his own in his hand.

"HELL NO! I AM NOT DOING THAT! JUST GET IN HERE! NOW! HE'S GOT A KNIFE!"

"shit…Ashley DO IT! I need you calm damn it!" Jessi said as she tried to figure out a way into the room.

The curly haired brunette sighed as she backed away from the crazed clown.

"FINE…What song?"

"I don't know! You pick!"

"Talk to me, tell me the news. You wear me out like a pair of shoes. We'll dance until the band goes home, then you're gone. Yeah baby." Ashley said lamely.

"Ohhh no you don't. You gotta feel the music babe. Ricky Martin is about passion!"

"You're not getting any more than that."

"If you want to get out of there I will." Jessi said as she ran a ways down the hall.

"Damn it…Well if it looks like love should be a crime, you'd better lock me up for life. I'll do the time with a smile on my face, thinking of her in her leather and lace!"

Ashley sang her heart out and Jessi ran back towards the door. Full speed she charged and as she neared she turned to her side, jumped, and plowed her shoulder into the hunk of wood. She burst into the room.

"HAZAA! SHE BANGS, SHE BANGS!" Jessi raised her arms in triumph, only to lower them again when a jolting pain emanated through her shoulder. She grabbed said shoulder and bent over in agony. "Ohhhh that don't feel good."

She recovered quickly though when she remembered her cousin was in danger. She looked around the room and found nothing but Ashley cowering in a corner, a knife clutched in her hands.

"Ash, there's no one in here."

Ashley looked at her like she was insane.

"What are you talking about?! HE'S RIGHT THERE!" she raised her hand and pointed out in front of her.

Jessi looked around again and still found nothing.

"Not seein him babe."

The clown that had been moving towards Ashley turned his sights on the other girl in the room. She was closer after all…

"Jess, MOVE!"

The clown was only a few feet away.

"What? Why?"

He pulled his arm back, blade in hand and swung towards her.

"JESSI LOOK OUT!" Ashley screamed.

But it was too late…he hit his mark.

"What the FUCK?!"

Somewhat. He did make contact with the knife on her, but he only managed to leave a slight cut on her abdomen and a mighty fine cut in her shirt.

"Oh HELL no! I KNOW he didn't just fuck up my polo. BASTARD! Ash where is he? I'm gonna kick his ass now. Invisible or not you do NOT mess with my polo." Jessi said blindly swinging through the air.

The clown laughed at her and brought his arm back again. This time high above his head, poised to make this the second and last blow.

Ashley, who'd been nothing but paralyzed with fright this entire time, somehow found herself on her feet. She walked towards him and yelled.

"HEY! CLOWN BOY!"

The clown turned with an evil grin on his face, crooked yellow teeth permeated his mouth.

"Guess what my favorite movie is?"

The clown was just about to speak when Ashley drove the knife straight through his heart. His eyes went wide for a second and then lifeless, like his body that crumpled to the floor.

"Stick It…bitch."

Jessi regarded her cousin, silent, as she knelt down and took the knife from his chest. Ashley looked up and saw the questions in her eyes.

"Never know, we might need it."

Jessi just nodded, took the girl's hand, and walked out of the room.

One down…six to go.


	7. Claustrophobia

**A/N:** Alright, I'm just going to warn you now…this chapter is going to totally suck because honestly. I have mad writer's block for this one…and I'm rushing it. Because I just need to get it out of the way. Therefore it's not proofed. Sorry. But I do have multiple endings planned out…and ideas for the other chapters…is that bad? Lol.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Claustrophobia**

"Aiden pleaaaase just like…stay out here while I have to do my 'task' or whatever?" Madison pleaded.

Aiden looked at the Latina and sighed as they continued to walk down the long corridor.

"Madison, you heard what Jessi said."

"Who said she was right? I mean, come on…she's the one that dragged us here, she's the one that knew this was going to happen, _she's_ the one that-"

"Madison, you didn't have to come. Just remember that." Aiden interrupted.

Madison rolled her eyes and huffed in defeat.

"Ugh…fine. But if I die then I'm _so_ haunting your ass."

Aiden smiled and quipped, "Hey, at least you'd be a hot ghost!" Which earned him a smack on the arm; playful of course.

They walked a little while longer until they stopped in front of the closet. Madison turned to Aiden and let out a small whimper with a full on pouty lip.

"You'll be fine. You have your walkie talkie. Don't worry." He said as he placed a supportive hand on her shoulder.

She frowned a bit and turned to the door. As Aiden walked down the hall, Madison gave him one last longing look before she entered the closet.

She closed the door behind her, sat on the floor, clicked on her flashlight, and read her instruction sheet.

"Greetings from the first floor, south wing supply closet."

"_Maaaadison…_"

Madison's head shot up, eyes bugged out as her bottom lip quivered with fear.

"Wh-who's there?" she said as she looked around the tiny closet.

"_Maaaadison…help meeeee…_" the voice whispered again.

"What do you want?!" she yelped as she looked around the tiny space for any indication of where the voice would come from.

"_Help me get out Madison…_"

She turned her flashlight to the corner and was greeted with a pasty white face of a boy. She opened her mouth to scream, but found she'd lost all ability to. Scared stiff she just looked at the boy.

"_Madison…you have to help me get out._" he said as he reached out towards her.

The only coherent thought in her head at that moment; RUN!

She scrambled for the door. She pushed, pulled, and pounded but it did no good. It was locked.

What's up with doors locking by themselves?

The room was getting smaller. The walls closed in around her as her blood curdling scream pierced through the air.

"AHHHHH!"

"_Madison please…_"

The walls crept closer with each pound on the door and turn of the knob. Tears streamed down her face like a waterfall, while she gasped for air desperately as she clawed at the old wood.

"HELP ME!"

"_Don't be scared Madison…it will only make him come faster…he'll come for you Madison…he'll take you away like he did me._"

The pounding and clawing slowed, the shrieks turned to hoarse whispers, and the crying changed to sets of struggled sobs and whimpers.

"Who are you?!" Madison asked as she shook violently.

"_You know who I am._"

She stared at the boy while she racked her brain. She tried to remember where she'd seen him, but all that screaming and pounding on the door jumbled her brain a bit.

"Samuel?"

He nodded.

"What happened? How did you even get in here in the first place? And who is 'he'?"

Samuel looked down and began his story. He told her about how some of the jocks said they'd be his friends if he did one dare. When he agreed they shoved him in the closet and locked him in; leaving him alone in the dark, confined space.

"Who is 'he' Sam?" the Latina asked; a slight shake evident in her voice.

"_I don't know…he just_-"

"**_Someone talking about me?_**" a deep voice questioned.

"_I-it's him…_" Samuel stammered.

A dark figured appeared next to Samuel.

"**_Well hello Madison. You'll make a lovely addition to the family._**"

"There's no way in hell I'm going with you!" She cried.

"**_Oh, I'm afraid you have no choice. You see, there's no one to help you. No one to hear your screams._**" He taunted.

Madison chanced a glance at her bag when she remembered the walkie talkie. She reached out for the gadget, but only got a handful of her bag instead.

"**_And what were you going to do with this little one? Call someone for help? No one cares about you…_**"

"_That's not true!_" Samuel yelped.

"**_Oh, so the boy speaks._**"

Madison dug through the bag while the dark figure was busy with Samuel.

"**_She's worthless just like you were boy. No one cared about you, they sent you here because they didn't want you._**"

Madison's hand reappeared outside of the bag with a key and a cross necklace in hand.

"HEY!"

The dark figure turned his attention back on the brunette.

"**_Ready to go my dear?_**"

She glared at him.

"Yeah…ready for you to go back to hell!"

"**_NO!_**"

She thrust the cross at the figure and turned her attention to the door. As fast as she could, she placed the key into the hole and turned. She pushed with all her might and forced the door open. She toppled out and reached out her hand for Samuel.

"Sam hurry!" Madison screamed.

The boy reached his hand out to her. His grip was cold as ice and she almost pulled back from the sheer shock, but retained her grip and she helped him out. She slammed the door shut and once again locked it. The last thing they heard was the pounding and scratching on the door before it turned to silence.

"_Thank you for helping me Madison._"

"No problem."

And with that he disappeared. She looked to the spot where the boy had been seated and saw only the cross necklace and her walkie talkie in his place.


	8. Pyrophobia

**A/N: **Once again I'm sorry about how long it's been. But hey, an update's an update right? RIGHT! Hehe. We're nearing the end folks!! Ah yup…nearing the end. Let's see…I'm approximating…five more chapters after this one? I think? Something along those lines. But yeah…enjoy this! I was much too lazy to proof this so…deal haha!

* * *

**Chapter 8: Pyrophobia**

Kyla ambled about the courtyard on her way to Ms. Van Every's classroom. As she strolled she casually glanced up to the sky and took notice at how visible the stars were here.

"Wow…it's so beautiful. We never get views like this in L.A. with all those lights on."

She continued on her path; head up towards the sky, as she calmly took a deep breath.

"OW!"

Unfortunately having one's eyes up tends to lead you into some unpleasant situations.

"Stupid cross! What the hell is it doing in the middle of the sidewalk anyway? Cripes!" Kyla whined while she rubbed her now sore head. "Guess I should get going though. Get this damn thing over with."

She walked towards the opposite end of the school, casting only a slight, but wary glance back at the cross. Something wasn't right about it, and Kyla could feel it deep in her bones.

The door creaked and screeched as Kyla reentered the school. She walked silently down the hall, only the faint sound of her footsteps echoed off the walls. She pointed her flashlight along the walls as she searched for any indication of the room. After five minutes of nothingness, she glanced up to the archway in front of her.

"Science Wing. Well finally!"

Kyla ambled about the hallway; each door received a quick look for the number before she continued on. As she rounded the next corner, the combination of lilac and burning wood flooded her senses.

"Weird…" Kyla said as she inhaled deeply.

The aroma was strange but enticing, and only got stronger as she continued down the hallway. She suddenly stopped in front of the classroom.

"Interesting…" Kyla drawled as she eyed the door. "The odd, yet simply amazing smell led me straight to where I needed to go. Coincidence, I think not." She said as she quirked up an eye brow.

The door she stood in front of seemed normal enough. Made of wood, glass window in the middle, metal knob; the only difference between this and the others, was this window was completely black. Not a trace of light could permeate in or out.

Kyla grabbed the knob but instantly ripped her hand away.

"Holy shit!" she screamed.

The knob was scalding and when she examined her hand and found a burn in the same shape. She blew slightly across the burn in an attempt to alleviate the pain, but all it did was cause her to wince and gasp in discomfort.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Not good. Not. Good."

She shook her hand in the air for a couple seconds and braced herself to try the door again.

Up and down she jumped. Left, right, and all around she rolled her head. Backwards and forwards, she rotated her shoulders.

"Get loose. Stay calm. Gotta stay calm."

She exhaled one last time and hesitantly grabbed the knob again. She expected it to be like last time, but was shocked when the knob turned out to be normal temperature. She took her hand away and examined it, again shocked to find that the burn was no where to be found.

"What the- did I imagine that?"

A puzzled expression graced Kyla's face as she entered the room for the first time. The lilac and wood smell was back full force, and it seemed to entrance the girl as she walked in further.

The room looked like your average science classroom, nothing seemed off; until Kyla remembered one very important fact that is.

"Wait a minute…this room was burned to a crisp. What the hell is going…going…"

That was all she managed to get out before her world went black.

The putrid smell of singed hair, sulfur, and…what's the last one?

"Gasoline?"

THAT'S IT! Gasoline. Wait a minute…

"What a great way to wake up after passing out inexplicably." Kyla grumbled as she sat up and rubbed her head a bit.

"_I wouldn't say inexplicably._"

Kyla gulped and slowly looked up to where the voice came from. Her face paled as she recognized the woman in front of her. She seemed to tower over the frightened brunette, but only because she was standing, with her jet black hair, ghostly white skin, and piercing dark eyes that glared menacingly towards her victim. It was definitely Ms. Van Every, but an entirely different one than the picture Kyla had seen just a while ago.

She backed away slowly still stunned into silence while she kept her eyes on the teacher. She didn't get too far however. She'd literally backed herself right into a corner. Kyla looked around the room for an escape path, but found that there wasn't one. Ms. Van Every was in her way to the door. She did another sweep of the room and took notice of the fact that it had changed to the scorched and blackened mess it had become after the fire, instead of the clean and normal set up it'd been in when she first entered. She also saw the liquid spilled across the floor in a meticulous pattern.

"Wh-wh-what do you want?" Kyla asked petrified.

"_Hahaha, oh like you don't already know._" The ghost chortled.

She looked at the woman, confusion the only thing visible in her eyes. She honestly had no idea.

"No actually, I don't." Kyla admitted.

The pale woman smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"_Silly girl. Of course you do._"

Kyla shook her head, "No, I seriously don't. You're confusing the hell out of me."

The smirk shifted to a scowl and the raised brow turned furrowed as she stepped closer to the youngest Davies.

"_You brainless little twit. My life was stolen from me far too soon. I've been stuck here ever since that day. It's time to exact revenge, and what's a better way to do that than to take the life of the girl who's so afraid of fire she won't even touch a lighter?_"

Kyla gaped at the woman. There was no possible way she could know about what happened…could she?

"I don't know what you're talking about…" she tried to play it off.

"_Oh don't even give me that._" The ghost spat.

Um newsflash; playing it off…definitely not gonna work.

"How do you even-"

"_How do I know? How do I know that you almost ended your own life? Inadvertently of course, but still almost ended it. How do I know that Kyla? Because I know everything. You were supposed to die in that fire. You were never supposed to meet Ashley. It was simple; you light the candle, you leave the room, you come back and its on fire, you cower in the corner and die. That's what was supposed to happen!_" She yelled.

Had this been a cartoon, her face would have been beat red and steam would've poured out of her ears. But this wasn't a cartoon, it was real. It was real, and there was a vengeful ghost standing about three feet in front of Kyla about to do god knows what. Yeah, that sounds real believable…

"Well sorry. It didn't go according to 'plan'." Kyla stated while she air quoted. "I didn't die, I did meet Ashley, and I couldn't be happier."

"_Well isn't that just touching?_" The spirit shot out sardonically complete with an eye roll. "_I hope you told her that you love her…because you won't be seeing her ever again._"

"What do you mean?" She asked with a hint of nervousness.

The woman grinned evilly as she pulled out a box of matches.

"_We're going to finally finish what was started. You've been around much too long. It's time you felt the pain and suffering I went through._" She slid the match across the box, while Kyla stared at the flaming piece of wood in shock. "_Goodbye Kyla._"

The match dropped. Straight into a puddle of gasoline that welcomed it with open arms. Open arms that set off a chain reaction of split second ignitions, thus setting the room ablaze.

Kyla, paralyzed with terror, cowered in the corner while she gripped her walkie talkie for dear life and watched the room as it quickly became engulfed with flames.

Wait a minute…walkie talkie? THAT'S IT!

"AIDEN, HELP ME PLEASE!"


	9. Hydrophobia

**A/N:** Okie doke. This took me for effing ever. Just to let you know. And you can pretty much thank this awesome girl named Morgan for me doing Aiden, Glen, and Spencer's chapters. I was really considering just skipping over them because I really just want to write the ending. Because I've got it all worked out in my head. And from what I hear…it's pretty damn good. Haha yeah. It's not proofed in the slightest. So um..hmm. I dunno what else to say. Here's Aiden's chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 9: Hydrophobia**

After dropping Madison at her destination, that lovely little closet, Aiden continued on to his stop; the pool. To say that he didn't want to go there would be an understatement. It wasn't as if he didn't like to swim or anything, it's just…

"When you almost drowned during a fishing trip you kinda lose the urge to just go jump in a big ol body of water without anyone else around…" he muttered to no one in particular.

Aiden kept walking until he heard something over his walkie talkie.

"Jess?"

"Yes Ashie Poo?"

He couldn't really pass up this opportunity now could he?

"Ashie Poo? Hahaha what the hell?" he chuckled.

"Aiden, shut up. I wasn't calling you." Ashley growled.

"Sorry." The boy said softly.

He approached a set of metal doors with a sign that read '**To Pool**'. He took a deep breath and entered the pitch black room. The doors closed with a high pitched squeak and loud slam. Light whispers started to fill the darkness.

"_You shouldn't be here._"

"_Get out while you can._"

"_Save yourself._"

"_You're in danger._"

Aiden clicked on his flashlight and started to scan the room for a sign, any sign of where those whispers would come from. His panic only grew when he found no one but himself in the room.

"_Look to the wall._" A new voice whispered.

Aiden jumped at the sound, but did as it told him. He found the circuit breaker. When he opened it, he turned the key and pushed the green button. Within minutes, the once completely dark room was filled with light. He clicked his flashlight off and made his way to the bleachers that were along the same wall as the circuit breaker.

He took a seat in the first row and opened up the bag. He pulled out a pair of goggles. There was something written on the strap. Upon further examination it was a name.

"Harper…" Aiden read aloud. "Super. I'm holding a dead guy's goggles."

Something suddenly dawned on the Dennison boy.

"EWW! EWW! EWW! He was wearing those when he died! EWW!" he yelped as he dropped the goggles and slid away.

"_That wasn't nice._"

Aiden's eyes went wide and he audibly gulped when he heard that voice behind him. He slowly, ever so slowly, turned his head only to find…nothing. There was no one there. He sighed in relief and turned back towards where he threw the goggles.

"AHH!"

This time, there was someone there.

"_Why'd you throw my goggles? That really wasn't nice. They never did anything to you._"

The ghost of one, Jake Harper.

"Wha- how- wh-wha da duh guh…" Aiden babbled.

"_You have problems forming coherent thoughts I see._"

"Wh-what are y-you doing here?"

"_Well obviously you were about to embark on something completely idiotic. So I came here to watch. Perhaps get a chuckle or two. It's been so long since anyone's been here. What year is it now?_"

Aiden stayed in his position of wide eyed and open mouthed while he looked at Jake.

Rolling his eyes…wait…can ghosts roll their eyes? Well, they can now…anyway…rolling his eyes at the young Dennison lad he spoke again.

"_If you're going to have your mouth open then you might as well speak. I'm not here to hurt you if that's what you think._"

Aiden swallowed the large lump in his throat and finally found his voice again.

"I-it's 2007."

"_Wow. That long huh? That's kind of depressing._"

"Heh, no doubt." He said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"_Why are you here?_" Jake asked as he stared out towards the pool.

"Uhh well. I'm not entirely sure yet. You kinda scared me before I could read what I have to do."

"_Oh. Sorry. Well, go on, read!_"

Aiden picked up the sheet and read silently. As he did he turned to the pool and back to the paper with a frown on his face.

"_What's wrong?_"

"I have to go in there." he sighed while he pointed to the pool. "Like, actually go in there. Under water, deep end…it's not something I really want to do. But I have to."

He stood up and walked towards the edge of the pool. He peered in and saw what he needed to get. Jake's class ring on a chain. Aiden took a deep breath and took off his shirt and shorts, which left him in his boxers. He stepped on the edge and prepared to jump when Jake stopped him.

"_I wouldn't do that if I were you._"

He turned towards the ghost.

"I have to man…if I don't, then my friends and I are all screwed."

"_I'm telling you…you don't want to go in there._"

"And I'm telling you. I don't have a choice."

He turned back to the pool, poised and ready to jump when Jake stopped him again.

"_Wait!_"

"What? What man? I just want to get this done with." He said exasperated.

"_Use the goggles. It'll do you no good to go down there and not be able to see. You just need to get in and out as fast as possible. Otherwise…_"

"Otherwise what?"

"_Nothing…just use the goggles._"

Aiden sighed, shook his head, and grabbed the goggles.

"You weren't wearing these when you died right?"

"_No. Why?_"

"Because that would be totally morbid if I had to wear that pair." He said as he placed the goggles on.

"_Good point. Uh…be careful ok? Remember what I said…get in and out as fast as possible…_"

Aiden just nodded and took a deep breath. He dove in and kicked further into the depths. He was quite thankful for the goggles, for without them he would've had a hell of a time trying to find that ring.

Jake stood at the edge of the pool as he watched over Aiden. He had no doubt that the thing that caused his death would try to take another so he had to be alert. There was no way a mortal could take on a spirit, vengeful or not, without the help of some sort of supernatural being.

At the bottom of the pool, Aiden had just grabbed the ring. He kicked off the pool floor and started to paddle towards the surface. He was half way up when he was suddenly jerked back down. He looked down towards his foot and saw the faint outline of a body. A large hand firmly grasped onto his ankle. His eyes went wide and all the air he held inside was forced out as he screamed.

He tried desperately to kick away. To get to the surface for air he so badly needed. But it was no use. The hand on his ankle tightened, practically breaking the bone. Aiden writhed in pain, thrashing wildly in the water that was slowly suffocating him.

Jake saw Aiden as he struggled. The boy had been down there way too long. Even though Jake was dead, he was still petrified at the thought of getting back in that pool. Coming face to face with the person, or rather thing, that took his life all those years ago. He had to though. He wasn't about to let it take another innocent life.

He dove in, not even making the water move, as he paddled and kicked his way towards the murderous spirit.

Aiden was fading fast. His lungs burned in their need for air. His brain was ripping him a new one, telling him to paddle his ass up to the surface or fight or grow gills, do something to get air. His vision was turning black and his flailing limbs were going limp. He didn't have much time.

Jake cut through the water like a hot knife through butter. He figured he was faster now than he was when he was alive. I mean, how couldn't he be right? He was a ghost…the water wasn't even touching him. He reached Aiden and immediately locked eyes with the spirit. Silently, he challenged him. One last time they would fight.

The spirit smirked, tugged roughly on Aiden's ankle, successfully pulling the boy down further before he slowly floated towards the surface. The boy was completely knocked out. He broke the surface and lucked out by floating on his back.

Beneath the surface Jake was engaged in a fierce battle. Blows were taken and given out from both sides. This spirit was strong, but after all these years of pent up frustration, Jake was stronger. He punched, kicked, and even head butted it. He punched without relent until finally the spirit vanished.

Jake made his way back to the surface and tried to figure out how to get Aiden out of the pool. He couldn't touch him, it'd do no good.

The door to the pool burst open suddenly.

"Aiden?" Madison called out.

"_Over here. Hurry. He needs to get out._"

"Holy crap not another one!" she yelled.

"_Just get him out of here. He needs CPR!_"

"Damn it!"

She ran over to the edge of the pool and dragged Aiden up and out.

"Damn this boy is heavy."

She started the CPR process, chanting in her head 'good air in, bad air out.'

"Come on Aid…you're not going out on me like this. Who else am I going to pick on at school?" she pleaded as she continued.

Moments later Aiden sputtered and coughed. Water shot out of his mouth. He caught his breath and sat up a bit.

"Madison. Oh my god, thank you!" he said as he grabbed her into a fierce hug.

"Yeah, well…thank me by getting us out of here."

As Aiden was putting his clothes back on, he looked at the item on his wrist. Jake's ring attached to the chain.

"Hey Jake, I think this is yours." He said as he handed it back to Jake.

"_No. You keep it. It's no good to me anymore._"

"Thanks man." Aiden replied while he placed the chain around his neck.

"_No problem._"

And with that, Jake disappeared.

"AIDEN, HELP ME PLEASE!" Kyla screamed through the walkie talkie.

"Shit. Madison let's go!"

He grabbed her hand and booked it out of the pool.

They sprinted down the hall, shot out the door, and ran through the courtyard. They could see the smoke already and kicked their speed up a notch. They burst into the science wing, running like crazy folk towards the room.

"HURRY MADISON!" Aiden screamed as the girl fell further behind trying to catch her breath.

The boy was running on pure adrenaline. There was no way in hell he was about to let his girlfriend die. Not today, not ever.

He reached the doorway, door still wide open but room completely engulfed in flames. He saw Kyla cowering in the corner, curled into a ball.

"KYLA!"

"AIDEN! OH MY GOD AIDEN HELP!" she screamed and coughed at the same time.

"Just hang on babe! I'm gonna get you out of there."

He looked around trying to find any possible item to aid him in his rescue. He found absolutely nothing. He turned back to the room and standing in the middle he saw a horrific sight. Ms. Van Every, with her singed hair and burned skin with an evil grin on her face.

"Hell no…HELL NO! You are NOT taking her from me you evil whore!" he screamed.

He ran into the room full speed, not caring about the pain from the fire. All he cared about was getting Kyla out. He got to the corner, threw her over his shoulder and fireman carried her out and running down the hall back to the beginning of the science wing where he found Madison still catching her breath.

They were all safe…he hurt like hell and Kyla was having a little bit of a breathing problem…but they were all safe. That's all that mattered.


	10. Acrophobia

**A/N: **Shut uuup. Haha I know, I know…I'm a horrible person. I'm sorry. I lost my writing mojo and I didn't want to just force this out. Pluuuus I had some major life stuff going on. The gist…I'm in loooove. Haha but this little sucker is not proofed. I apologize if this isn't exactly the greatest, remember I haven't written for a while. Anyway, ON WITH THE UPDATE!

* * *

**Chapter 10: Acrophobia**

Glen made his way through the front foyer and down the hallway that led back towards the chapel. The others were long gone by now. He'd stayed behind to compose himself. After all, finding out that the 'haunted' location you went to as a joke and an excuse to have your hottie hot hottie hottie hot hot girlfriend cling to you because she was scared actually WAS haunted and by homicidal ghosts no less, plus being locked in without any possible way of escape, and then hearing Ashley's walkie talkie hysterics, going up to the bell tower…the bell tower that's at least 150 feet in the air…didn't seem like the funnest or best idea.

"Not that going up there in the first place sounded like a fun idea," he muttered to himself as he reached the door labeled **Stairwell To Bell Tower**.

He stared at the door for a good while. He examined each and every inch of wood grain before him. Every tiny wood particle that was in his sight, he thoroughly packed away into his brain…as if remembering what a door looked like would actually help with anything. He looked at that damn door for so long he started seeing, what seemed to be, little demons appear in the grain.

"Time to man up Carlin, this is ridiculous. Just go up there and get it done, and then you can have a well deserved make out session with Madison. Good plan."

He grabbed the handle and tried to push the door open. It wouldn't budge.

"It's like…some…supernatural force…is…holding it…shut…" Glen grumbled while he attempted to force the door in question open.

After a good 10 minutes of struggling with the door a thought dawned on him.

"Maybe if I pull…"

He did as such and VOILA! Open door.

"Wow…I'm a dumbass…we'll just leave that out of my recap if anyone asks…"

The stairwell was dark and musty, filled with cobwebs after years and years of nonuse. The steps, wooden and rickety, had coating of dirt and dust that hadn't been disturbed in so long that it almost served as silent warning to the Carlin Boy.

Almost.

He placed one foot on the first step. It creaked as more of his weight was put onto it. Instantly he felt a chill go down his spine. It was ominous and unnerving but then again, what hadn't been about this whole situation? Up to the next step and the next he went. He could hear the wind blowing about outside and the soft clang of the bell as it lightly swayed to and fro in the gust while he continued his trek up the seemingly never ending, multilevel staircase.

"Jesus could this thing be any higher- OW!"

Glen had made the mistake of keeping his head down during his little hike so he failed to see the hatch above him. Now he had a bruised ego from the door incident AND sore noggin. Poor guy.

He rubbed the now tender spot for a little while and proceeded to push up on the hatch. Of course with his luck so far, Glen couldn't get it to budge.

"Ok honestly, this just isn't funny anymore. I know it's not a pull down one, there's no room."

He looked at the problematic hatch and found nothing that would keep it closed. Ya know, like a lock or something. He was getting ready to push up again when he heard humming; humming from above. It was barely audible, but it was definitely there, right above his head. Judging by the pitch, it was a girl.

He knew from the look of the stairs that no one else in the group had gone up there; otherwise there would've been footprints. He listened again, closely. Instead of humming this time, he heard a barely there whisper.

"_I know you're there, why don't you just come up. I want to play. Don't you want to play Glen?_"

The blond boy's eyes opened wide. His heart was beating a mile a minute and he had started to get little beads of sweat on his forehead. How? How on earth could she have known his name? There was no way, he had to be hallucinating.

He shook his head and took a deep breath, ready to move that damn hatch once and for all. He placed his hands against the wood and squatted as much as possible. Ready to be met with the resistance he'd come across before, Glen pushed up with all his might.

This time however, the hatch didn't pose a problem. It flew open with such force that when it flopped down the other way it clattered with a loud BAM! So loud in fact, it caused the boy to nearly tumble down the stairs.

He clutched his chest while he tried to get his erratic breathing under control and looked around the tower platform. It was completely barren, save for a few wayward leaves. There was definitely no one there before…right? Right!

Glen pulled himself completely onto the platform and shrugged his bag off his shoulder.

"Alright let's see what I got in my goodie bag," he said to himself.

He opened the bag and paused a moment.

"I really need to stop talking to myself…people will start thinking I'm mental…"

Unaware of the spirit that curiously watched him from atop the bell with a devious glint in her dead eyes and a sadistic smirk on her face, Glen rummaged through the bag. He procured what he sought after, a rope complete with matching noose. He pulled out his instruction sheet and began to read. Unbeknownst to the blond, the sadistic smirk on the girl's face turned into a full blown evil and maniacal grin.

"_Gleeeeeeen._"

His head shot up faster than a jack rabbit on speed. Eyes wide yet again, he searched the area and again, found nothing. He turned his attention back to the paper in his hands. Not five seconds later he heard it again.

"_Gleeeeeen._"

His fists clenched the paper so tightly that the edges crumpled and it nearly split the thing, but he kept his attention on the words and not the voice that had really started to annoy him.

"Climb onto the ledge of the bell tower and tie the rope to the beam attached to the bell. Once you have done that ring the bell three times making sure to pause between each ring allowing it to sound fully. Then, sit underneath the noose in complete silence. Annie's spirit should emerge, but be aware of possible anger she may attempt to release."

_Anger? Oh great. As if a bad tempered Latina isn't enough to deal with, now I've got an angry ghost? What the hell?_ He thought to himself.

Glen sighed and got to work. He picked up the rope and eyed the ledge warily. It was common knowledge in the Carlin household that tough guy Glen was deathly afraid of heights; something that had been brought on after a terrifying experience at Cedar Point.

Glen was 12 and finally tall enough and old enough, according to his parents, to ride the big roller coasters by himself. So that's what he did. He waited in line for the coaster known as 'Mantis'; a blue, yellow, and red monster of a coaster coasting easily at a top speed of 60 miles per hour. It wasn't your normal coaster, oh no…it was the badass 'I'm gonna make you stand until your knees go weak and then I'm gonna make you stand some more' kind, and according to the sign it ranked in as 'One of the tallest, fastest, and steepest stand-up roller coasters in the world!" Perfect one to start out on right?

The line took hours and hours to get through and when he got to the front, he was practically bouncing off the walls. Standing in the middle of the train, the ride shot out of the station like a bullet.

It was going smoothly enough and Glen was having a fantastic time. That was, until it got to the third loop. The train bounded up the incline but lost a significant amount of speed as it reached the midpoint. The brakes locked and the ride shuddered violently.

There he was, 12 year old Glen Carlin. Stuck 83 feet in the air, upside down, blood rushing to his head faster than Paris Hilton could spend $1,000 at D&G, with only his shoulder harness keeping him secured. His heart was rapidly pounding which only increased the pressure in his head, making his loss of consciousness to come all the sooner.

10 minutes in and he was seeing spots, large black spots. He was completely disoriented, but still conscious…at least for the time being. The park had gotten a few cherry pickers together and had been helping riders out of the train as fast as possible. They were a long way from where Glen was though, so when he felt his shoulder harness give out alarms were sounded.

By some miracle or act of God, Glen had mustered up enough coherence to quickly grab hold of the yellow 'safety' device that had just moments ago been keeping him strapped snugly into the train. With the lack of blood in his muscles his grip on the harness was failing fast.

The cherry pickers were frantic as they tried to get to him and just as his little fingers slipped off the harness, a rescue worker snagged him and pulled him into the basket.

A slight breeze passed through and the eldest Carlin child shivered, not only because it was chilly, but because the memory was still fresh as a daisy in his mind.

Annie, who had been silently watching the boy as he relived his near death experience, slid off the bell with that evil grin stamped back on her face. She was about to hurt the actually innocent blond and she was gonna hurt him good.

Glen carefully stepped up onto the ledge and looked down to the ground, which he immediately regretted.

"That's a bigger fall than the coaster…" he said as he swallowed a large lump that'd formed in his throat.

He reached up to tie the rope to the beam and Annie took this as her cue. She took in a breath that wasn't actually needed and shrieked as loud as she could as she charged towards the boy.

"_AHHHHHHHH!_"

Glen, startled beyond comprehension, swiveled in the direction of the shriek and stumbled backwards, effectively falling off. For the second time in his life he somehow found the last bit of coherence he had and grabbed the ledge on his way down. He tried to get some form of footing but the building wasn't helping any, so he was in a battle with gravity and traction.

His breathing had switched into panic mode the second he fell and his muscles were already fatigued. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on.

Annie looked over the ledge, pleased with herself.

"_You aren't supposed to be here. I told you I wanted to play and this game is always fun. I love this game. I wonder where you'll end up. Here with me, or down there. Oh yes, this game is my favorite._" She said completely satisfied.

His grip was getting less and less ninja death grip and more new born baby like and he was completely drained. He was just about to give up when he heard possibly the greatest sound ever.

"GLEN?!"

"SPENCER!"


	11. Nyctophobia

**A/N:** Alright. So, I'm gonna be honest. I totally lost interest in this story and started another one. But since _someone_ whined and whined for me to finish…I'm gonna finish. Damn my inability to say no to that one…grrr.

**Chapter 11: Nyctophobia**

**BASEMENT**. **NO STUDENT ADMITTANCE**.

That's what the sign on the large wooden door said. The door that seemed to tower over Spencer.

She thoroughly examined it from top to bottom. Every square inch of that big hunk of wood passed through her aqua marine eyes and she was perplexed. There was no lock on it. It was as if they actually wanted the students to venture down into the underbelly of the school. Granted that when they built the school kids were better behaved, most likely, than now so they probably didn't see the need for locks, but in the later years you'd thing they'd pop some on there.

"Weird…" she said to herself.

She inhaled deeply before looking down at the paper she'd unconsciously clenched in her hands to the point of crumpling it.

"Woops!"

She smoothed out the sheet and sighed as she carefully read the instructions.

"Go down to the basement using the flashlight as your only source of light. Search the ground for the wrench that Billy tripped over. When you find it walk ten steps forward, there will be a tall stack of empty boxes resembling the stack that fell. Lay down in front of the stack, holding the bracelet inside your bag inside your hand. It is said that Billy was going to give this to his girlfriend the night he died. Hold the bracelet and call out his name and wait for him to appear. Blah blah blah."

She took the flashlight out of her bag and grabbed the door knob.

CLICK

On went the flashlight.

"Here we go Carlin…"

She opened the door and peered down into the black abyss. There was absolute stillness. No sound, no movement. It was bone chilling and unnerving, and she was at the top of the stairs.

She shined the tiny beam of light down towards the floor and scanned the landing for any sign of…well anything really. Left to right she moved the beam, and as she was ready to head down the stairs her light hit something. She looked and gasped and stepped back, successfully dropping the flashlight.

Had it really been there? No…it couldn't have been. There was no way that she'd just seen a pasty white face wickedly grinning at her with dead grey eyes at the right edge of the staircase. Positively not. She was just freaking herself out. Yeah, that was it. Her mind was already playing tricks on her.

That's why she despised the dark. It was the unknown of it all. In most cases it wasn't bad because you knew there wasn't anything there to get you. But here, here it was totally different. There _was_ something that could get you. And it would.

She steadied herself and picked up the flashlight. One deep breath and she was ready.

She descended the steps carefully, but with confidence in her stride. She was on the last stair. She wasn't afraid.

BAM

"EEP!" she squeaked as she scurried off the stairs and cowered along the wall, while the door slammed shut.

Ok, that definitely wasn't supposed to happen. She flashed her light towards the door and saw nothing.

"Maybe someone walked by and closed it…yeah. That's all it was."

It was a possibility. Not a likely one, but still a possibility that she was holding onto for dear life not wanting to think about the real cause.

"Just find the wrench and get out. Sounds good."

Facing the stairs, she turned to her left and started down the hall. She made sure she kept a close eye on the floor every now and then to be sure she didn't trip over anything.

After a few minutes of walking the light began to flicker.

"No."

She slapped the head a few times trying to get the steady beam back. It wasn't working.

"No. No. No no no no no. NO!"

She kept slapping the light. It still didn't help.

"_Run run run Spencer spencer spencer. Run run run Spencer spencer spencer._"

Her blonde head shot up and she dropped the flashlight, blue eyes wide with panic. The echo kept going.

"_Run run run Spencer spencer spencer. Run run run Spencer spencer spencer._"

It seemed to be getting closer and she was paralyzed. The signals her brain was sending out through her body weren't registering like they should've been.

She looked around for the light and when she spotted it rolling just a few feet away she dove on it, landing with a large, "OOMPH!"

"_Run run run Spencer spencer spencer. Run run run Spencer spencer spencer._"

It was all around her. No matter where she turned her head it was there.

"_Run run run Spencer spencer spencer. Run run run Spencer spencer spencer._"

She scurried to her feet, fumbling with the flashlight.

"_Run run run Spencer spencer spencer. Run run run Spencer spencer spencer._"

She flashed it all around trying to find the source of the voice. Her breathing and heart rate had shot up exponentially.

"_Run run run Spencer spencer spencer. Run run run Spencer spencer spencer._"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, still shining the light around her.

"_Run run run Spencer spencer spencer. Run run run Spencer spencer spencer._"

"NO! STOP! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Her voice was hoarse and her breathing was ragged when everything suddenly went silent. The light came to a halt. The face, the grinning, pasty, dead grey eyed face was mere inches from hers.

"_Run run run._" He echoed.

"AHHHHHH!" her high pitched shriek pierced through the unwavering stillness of the basement.

She took off, sprinting at full speed looking back to see that face just keep grinning at her. She turned back around only to trip over the wrench she'd originally been looking for. She tumbled into the large stack of boxes and was splayed on her back trying to catch her breath.

The boxes were swaying back and forth and were about to fall on top of Spencer. She was stuck again; paralyzed with terror. Her cerulean blue eyes quickly filled with tears.

"_ROLL!_"

Her head shot to the right and she saw the face again. It wasn't grinning this time. He wasn't grinning this time. He actually had worry there.

The boxes began to fall, headed straight for the blonde about to crush her to death.

"_ROLL SPENCER!_"

The boxes toppled down; the sound of glass breaking, metal objects clattering, and cardboard crumpling was all that could be heard.

"Those boxes were supposed to be empty."

Spencer stared in disbelief at the heap of mangled cardboard and other objects protruding from the now broken through sides in front of her. Had she not found it, whatever it was, in her to roll out of the way at the very last second she was sure to have been dead the moment of impact.

"_Nothing is as it's supposed to be in this school. I was sure you'd already realized that. Are you ok?_"

It was odd, just a few minutes before this boy was scaring the living daylights out of her and now he was acting like a concerned boyfriend or something.

"Y-yeah, I think so. Just a little shaken up… Um. You're Billy right?"

"_Indeed I am. Pleasure to make your acquaintance and uh, I suppose save your life._"

"Thanks for that by the way. But…I don't get it. Why did you help me when just a little bit ago you were scaring the crap out of me? It was like you wanted me to get crushed by those boxes or something."

Billy's pale face contorted into a look of sheer confusion.

"_What are you talking about? I haven't left this immediate area for years. Unless…_"

"Unless what? Unless what?!"

"_Quinn…it must've been him. He's the only spirit in this god forsaken place that can take the form of anyone in the school._"

"Bastard…"

"_Hah, that he is my dear. That he is._" Billy chuckled.

He turned his head towards the stairs and his face took on a pondering look. Then his eyes widened in alarm.

"_Spencer, do you have something of mine?_"

She looked at him confused for a bit, but realized a second later what he was referring to. She reached into the bag that hadn't left her back since the top of the stairs and pulled out the silver charm bracelet.

"Yeah, right here."

"_There isn't much time. Spencer, you need to get to the top of the middle bell tower as fast as you can. I don't have time to explain. Just take the bracelet to Annie. Tell her I sent you. She'll know. I'm sure Quinn is still down here, probably waiting by the stairs. I'll try and hold him off so you can get out the door, but you must hurry. Something bad is about to happen. Now go!_"

Dumbfounded, Spencer just nodded, stood, and headed towards the stairs, Billy at her side.

They reached the steps without complication, but standing at the top guarding the door was Quinn.

"_**She's not leaving this basement. She'll be joining the family.**_"

"Like hell I am!"

"_Spencer, start going up. Trust me._"

She did as she was told and slowly started up the stairs. Quinn looked at her with an evil gleam in his eye as he descended the stairs.

Five steps away from each other Quinn raised his hand towards Spencer, a small white light forming at the palm. She started to feel weak and grasped the railing to steady herself and to go up another step.

"Billy. Billy what is he doing?" her voice sounded so far away.

He took this as his signal. He bolted up the stairs straight at Quinn.

"_GET AWAY FROM HER!_" He yelled as he tackled the preacher.

They disappeared through the stairs and Spencer took this opportunity to charge up the rest of the way, her strength coming back to her within no time.

"_Spencer hurry! I can't hold him for long!_"

She sprinted the last few stairs and plowed through the basement door, making a sharp right turn to head back towards the front foyer. She heard the deep voice of Quinn bellow after her.

"_**I'll make sure you stay here Spencer. You'll remain here where you belong forever.**_**"**

She skidded to a stop in front of the bell tower door and pulled it open with great force.

She'd definitely gained her second wind and shot up the creaky old stairs like a bat out of hell.

Halfway up she heard the ear piercing scream of a girl.

"_AHHHHHHHH!_"

Her eyes widened and she doubled her already high speed pace.

She got to the top and nearly face planted after popping out of the hatch. Panting like a dog she looked around and saw the spirit of a girl looking over the ledge.

"_You aren't supposed to be here. I told you I wanted to play and this game is always fun. I love this game. I wonder where you'll end up. Here with me, or down there. Oh yes, this game is my favorite._"

Was the girl talking to her or someone else? Who was supposed to be up here? Ashley was in the clown room, Jessi was in Quinn's office, Aiden was in the pool, Kyla was in the chem. lab, and Madison was in the closet so that only left…GLEN!

"GLEN?!"

"SPENCER!"

Annie turned around, a fire raging in her eyes as she stalked towards Spencer.

"_What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here either! Get away! He's staying here!_"

"Annie! Annie calm down! Billy sent me!" Spencer said while she backed up with her hands up in a surrender fashion.

Annie stopped where she was.

"_Billy? Billy sent you? I don't believe you. He didn't show up when he was supposed to. He didn't come like he promised. Don't lie to me about him!_"

The spirit continued her slow pursuit of the young blonde. Spencer dug into her pocket and retrieved the bracelet. She held it up and continued to try and reason with the other girl.

"Look! This is what he sent me with. He said you'd know what it meant."

Annie put her hand up towards the bracelet.

"_Let it go._"

Spencer did as she was asked and was surprised when the bracelet stayed in the air, levitating without any assistance.

While Annie walked towards it, Spencer took off towards the ledge to help her brother. He'd almost lost his grip, but Spencer grabbed him just in time. She pulled him back to safety and they both sat, catching their breath.

"Glen oh my god are you ok?!"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry." The boy said as he rubbed his arms trying to get the soreness that'd set in out.

"_He…he didn't forget. He remembered everything..." _Annie said looking off into the distance. A short while later she turned back to Glen,_ "Um…sorry about…earlier. I just…I'm sorry. Get out of here and be careful. Quinn will do anything to get his way. Remember that._"

The two Carlin siblings headed back down the hatch and down the stairs.

**Outside Quinn's office at the same time…**

"Ash, I need you to stay out here ok? I don't know what the hell is gonna be in there and I don't want you getting hurt." Jessi said as they stopped in front of the door.

Ashley looked at her cousin in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?! I am SO not staying out here alone! Uh uh. Not after that whole clown thing. Not. Happening."

"Don't start with me Ashley, I'm serious. You're staying out here and that's final! You have your walkie talkie and we all know you're well aware of how to use it. Just please, for the love of god, me, and Jimmy John's stay here. Don't move. Ok?"

Ashley could see the pleading in her cousin's blue-green eyes and merely nodded.

"Promise me Ash. None of that nodding crap. I need to hear you say it."

"Ugh FINE! I promise to not move. Geez, don't worry!" She said while rolling her eyes.

It was a well known fact that Jessi was quite the worrier. When you told her not to worry, it only made her worry more.

"Thank you."

And with that, the older girl headed into the office.

Not even a minute later a soft whisper came.

"Ash. Psst. Hey, Ash!"

Ashley looked down the hall and saw none other than her girlfriend peeking around a corner. A huge grin plastered on her face.

"Hey baby! How'd your little thing go?"

"Fine, just fine. Hey, you wanna get in a little make out action before we leave? I've wanted to do it all. Night. Long."

Now Ashley was never one to turn down a make out session with anyone, especially her hottie hot hottie hottie hot hot girlfriend. She nodded eagerly and scampered down the hall.

Spencer disappeared around the corner and when Ashley rounded it she definitely wasn't expecting what she found.


	12. Thantaphobia

**A/N:** Hey everyone. This is the second to last chapter if you can believe it. Get ready. There's gonna be a few surprises. There's also going to be flashbacks annotated by asterisks or . Enjoy it!

Chapter 12: Thantaphobia 

Jessi walked over the threshold and quietly shut the door. She took in the room before her. It was a large outer office that had a few divider walls up. Cobwebs and dust overran the furniture that was strewn about, never cleaned up after the school closed. There were still stacks of paper, pencils and pens, and file folders on top of the desks. There were even typewriters with half typed messages in them. It was as if the staff went on a long lunch break or something. Obviously that wasn't really the case.

There were only a few windows off to the left side of the room, positioned high and out of reach. Not meant to be opened, but for natural light. The moon cast an almost heavenly glow on the room. If one were to listen closely enough, they could hear the faint tap of the keys, the almost silent scratch of pencils, and the whoosh of papers being shuffled around.

As she gazed upon each desk she imagined the secretaries bustling about the office, diligently working and gossiping in passing. She walked further into the office and let her pointer finger trace over the top of a desk, accumulating a large amount of dust on the digit.

She spied a phone off of the hook on another desk and ventured towards it. The thought of using the phone for possible assistance hadn't occurred to any of them since their cells had been left in the safe house. She picked up the old receiver and put it up to her ear. As expected she heard nothing. Not the dial tone, not the annoying beeping sound you get after you have the phone off the hook without dialing for too long, and not even the punk kid that calls asking if your refrigerator is running.

She pulled away the receiver and pushed down the switch hook a few times and then put the receiver to her ear again. Once again she was met with silence. Something she was getting quite sick of. It was much too quiet in this school. Especially considering it was haunted.

Ugh haunted. Those damn ghosts; especially Quinn who had yet to show his face to her and anyone else as far as she was aware.

Psht, if he's supposed to be all big and bad, why hasn't he popped up? Wimp. That's what he is. All he is is a scared little boy inside. Granted he's a scared, psychotic, homicidal little boy, but a little boy nonetheless. At least the clown had the balls to show up. Creepy little bastard he was too. I can't believe I let him slice up my polo like that. Jessi thought to herself as she looked down to her now ruined and partially bloodstained polo.

_I had to act like I didn't see him though. That was Ashley's fight. Not mine_. _I would've gladly taken it for her however. But she needed to do it. I was kinda worried she wasn't gonna do it what with the way she was just sitting there. If the bastard weren't dead, I'd kill him myself. Oh well. At least now I have an excuse to go shopping!_

Yeah, Jessi was quite sick of ghosts and quite sick of the school. Once she got out she was definitely going to have a talk with whoever sent her here. That was for sure.

She realized she still had the receiver to her ear and placed it back on the hook, its rightful place. She started to walk away when it began to ring. Thoroughly scaring the crap out of her. The tinny sound of the old bell that hadn't been used for years bounced off the walls.

RRRRRRING! RRRRRRING!

She stared at the phone warily. Something wasn't right about this situation.

RRRRRRING! RRRRRRING!

She looked around the office and noticed that nothing at all had changed.

RRRRRRING! RRRRRRING!

She gulped, but picked up the receiver and put it to her ear. Just listening.

"_I'm waiting for you…_"

That's all she heard. There was no click from the other end, no dial tone…just that voice.

Her breathing had picked up severely since the phone had first rung out but now; her eyes were definitely bulged out. That was the same voice that'd told them they were stuck in the school. It had to be Quinn. It just had to be.

A light going on behind the door at the other end of the room caught her eye. She looked at the receiver in her hand and then back to the door. She put the receiver back down on the hook quietly and shrugged the bag off of her shoulder. If she was going into that office, she wasn't going to do in unarmed.

The bag was a bit heavy, so she knew whatever the object she had would do just fine. She opened the bag and reached inside, only to pull out a revolver.

She looked at it, examined it with the intricacy of an art dealer scrutinizing a Picasso. It was definitely from a previous century. She wasn't a gun aficionado by any means, but it was quite obvious. There seemed to be a bit of rust in various spots of the barrel, however upon further inspection with the help of her flashlight, Jessi realized that it wasn't rust at all. It was blood; old, dried blood, which could only mean one thing.

She checked the handle of the gun and sure enough, carved into the wood of the butt, there it was.

_Thomas Quinn_

With a vice like grip on the gun, she walked to the office door. Her hand hovered over the knob for a few seconds while she took a deep breath. She turned the knob and stepped into the room. It was extremely cold compared to the outer office. So cold in fact, that she could see her breath.

Mahogany paneling lined the walls, as did shelves of books and trophies. The glass in front of the shelves covered in dust, just like the rest of the room. A large oriental rug swept across the floor and added an elegant feel. The far left wall held a large picture window with heavy crimson drapes that were parted enough to let in just a sliver of moonlight; the view no doubt of the courtyard.

Her blue-green eyes followed the sliver of light across the floor to the other side of the room, landing on a large, deep cherry wood desk. A small lamp, the bulb burning a soft orangey yellow glow, sat on the corner closest to her. Papers strewn about the top; documenting the past lives of students and goings on at the school decades before; in such a fashion that it seemed orderly but in a disorderly fashion.

Behind it a fireplace, not used in years, with a mantle that held more books. Above it, a large portrait hung. Painted many years ago, capturing what seemed to be a good side of the man that proved to be so evil. Quinn. But even then, in his eyes, the artist captured that sadistic glint. In his smirk you could see the malevolence.

The more she stared at the portrait the colder she felt. Those eyes were peering into her with such a power that she shuddered and returned her gaze to the desk, in its imperfect perfection.

The old rotary phone, in its black and white glory, lay off the hook. The long backed brown leather office chair on the 'business' side of the desk was turned to face the wall. Two more brown leather chairs with shorter backs sat in front of the desk.

She silently walked towards the desk. Since Quinn still hadn't shown himself, only his voice, he had to be in the chair. Jessi lifted the revolver in front of her and reached for the top of the chair, spinning it around to reveal nothing but an empty seat.

It didn't make sense and the confusion on Jessi's face emphasized that fact. This was supposed to be how it worked wasn't it? That's how it worked in the horror movies. The girl goes to the chair, turns it around and there's the bad guy smirking evilly. Don't ghosts know they can't deviate like that?!

"_Did you really think I would be that predictable or cliché Miss Taylor?_"

"EEP!" Jessi squeaked as she spun around. Her eyes were wide with shock.

There, in the left hand chair, smirk in place, was Quinn. The smirk widened into a grin as he spoke.

"_Did I scare you my dear?_"

Jessi narrowed her eyes and a scowl formed on her lips.

"A. Don't call me dear. I'm SO not your dear. B. Yeah, you did scare me! Jerk! And C.Why are you in this chair? You're supposed to be in that one! Deviation is not something I can deal with."

Quinn just shook his head and stood, which caused Jessi to again raise the revolver and point it towards the ghost.

"_I wouldn't do that if I were you Miss Taylor. That gun has one shot in it and if you try to shoot me it will be a complete waste. You can't hurt a ghost. I'm already dead._"

"Damn…"

She lowered the gun and looked at the desk, noticing a rather heavy looking book within arms length. The tiniest smirk formed on her face as an idea popped into her head. He was right, she couldn't waste the bullet; not yet. There was something inside her saying that she'd need it later.

"Doesn't mean I can't try."

She picked up the book and hurled it at the ghost. As expected it went right through him, which only served to make him smirk again. He was obviously all about the smirking.

"_I told you my dear, you can't harm me._"

"UGH! I already told you to not call me that! I'm NOT your dear!" she growled.

"_Nevertheless your group's efforts to escape are futile. No one is leaving here. I've already seen to that. You shall all die._"

"No! I won't let that happen. I told them I'd get them out of here and I will. No one's going to die. Not on my watch."

"_Silly child, I've already got my first victim ready._"

"Oh what? You're going to kill me in here? Real original there chief." Jessi said while rolling her eyes; an attempt at not looking as scared as she really was.

Something did feel all too final about this now. Before stepping foot into this office she was sure that they'd get out. But now, after seeing Quinn face to face, it was as if all the hope she had had fizzled away. Of course, she wouldn't let him know that. Not until it was absolutely, one hundred percent certain. There had to be some way to get out, there just had to be.

"_No, I'm saving you for last. You're an integral part of this Miss Taylor…you just don't realize it yet._"

Quinn walked towards the window and waved his hand in front of the heavy curtains. They moved out to either side of the brass rod they hung on, successfully creating a large dust cloud in their wake.

He stared out into the courtyard, dreamily almost, with his hands clasped behind his back.

"_Lovely night for a death isn't it? The moon is just right, it reminds me of the night I killed my wife. I'm sure she'll scream just as Augustine did._"

Jessi stared at him disbelievingly.

"You're psychotic; truly, undeniably psychotic. And what do you mean 'she'? You're not killing anyone. I already told you this!"

He turned his head just enough so she could see his profile.

"_And I already told you that I had my first victim ready. She wasn't too hard to convince though._"

"What are you talking-"

Before she could even finish the sentence, Quinn transformed into a likeness of Spencer.

"_It's funny what girls today will do for the ones they love. But when the one they love is of the same sex, they go against the will of God and therefore earn the right to go first._"

Jessi's eyes widened and her mouth dropped a bit. Ashley. He had Ashley. But wait, he couldn't. No, there was no way. He had to be playing some sick mind game to throw her off.

"I don't believe you. She'd be able to tell the real Spencer from a fake any day."

Quinn changed back into his own form and laughed maniacally.

"_Hahahahaha. That girl couldn't tell the difference between me and her beloved if her…well, if her life depended on it! Hahahaha!_"

Jessi rolled her eyes once again. This guy needed to get out more or watch Buffy or something because his puns were quite horrible.

"Oh, ghost boy's got some jokes huh? You really should work on those by the way. That one was hardly amusing. And I still don't believe you have her."

He waved his hand toward the door to open it.

"_Go see for yourself then…_"

Smirk firmly in place with an added eyebrow cock, served to poke at the curiosity in the brunette.

Jessi raised an eyebrow of her own and clenched her jaw as she warily watched the ghost while she walked out of the office. Her pace steadily increased the further she got from the office.

She nearly burst through the outer office door in order to get to the hallway. Frantically looking around for her cousin, whom she didn't see, she did a 360 and took off towards the main foyer.

She ripped the walkie talkie from her pocket and radioed for everyone.

"EVERYONE GET YOUR ASSES OUT TO THE COURTYARD! WE HAVE A SERIOUS BEYOND SERIOUS SITUATION!"

She rounded the corner so fast she collided with the bell tower door as Glen and Spencer, the real one, were running out. Her head bounced violently off the wood and she fell down to the floor, blood slowly trickling out of the fresh cut.

Spencer looked at her in shock, knelt down next to her, and carefully lifted her head.

"Jessi oh my god are you ok?!"

Jessi's eyes were wide with shock for the umpteenth time that night, but this time was because of the impact of the hit. It was a miracle she wasn't knocked out cold from it.

"No time! Gotta go! No time!"

She scrambled to her feet, a bit woozy and a monster headache forming, and grabbed the blonde's hand and took off for the courtyard yet again; Glen completely confused trailing not far behind.

When they got outside, Aiden, Kyla, and Madison were all standing there utterly frazzled. One look at the brunette's forehead sent Kyla into a tizzy.

"Jessi what the hell happened?"

"Door. Ran into. Ashley. Ashley's missing."

Forming full sentences was the last thing she cared about doing. She needed to find her cousin, and she needed to find her now. Time was running out and she could feel it.

Spencer spun Jessi around, causing the girl to go a bit off kilter for a minute, and yelled.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN ASHLEY'S MISSING?!"

The shrillness in her voice was enough to make everyone wince and make Jessi's head throb even more.

"Quinn. You. Took Ashley."

"Speak normal English woman!" Kyla demanded as she spun the Wisconsin native around.

She was starting to look a bit green, motion sickness from the sudden spinning mixed in with the already messed up equilibrium in her head from the door. She probably had a concussion, but that didn't exactly matter. Not until Ashley was safe.

"Quinn turned into Spencer and lured Ashley away."

Kyla looked at her skeptically, no one else really paying attention to the bickering.

"What?! It's the truth! I mean come on, how can you not believe me? After all the crap that's gone on tonight you're gonna not believe this?" she said indignantly.

"She's telling the truth guys. I saw Quinn in the basement. He looked like Billy and almost killed me the same way."

Ahh Spencer, ever the savior.

It suddenly dawned on the three girls that the other three in the group were being just a bit too quiet. They turned and saw exactly what was the cause of the silence.

"Holy shit." Jessi said.

"Holy shit." Spencer echoed.

"Holy. Shit." Kyla concurred.

Obviously everyone was in agreement. Not exactly a big surprise though, considering they'd found Ashley.

…Strapped to the stone cross that Kyla ran into earlier, completely knocked out…

"Ok, pretty sure that thing was facing the other direction when it came out of nowhere and hit me!" she exclaimed.

The entire group, except Jessi rushed forward to help Ashley down. They struggled with the wrist restraints and tried to wake up the eldest Davies' sister, but to no avail.

Glen had glanced over his shoulder and noticed Jessi just standing there looking like she was about to cry. He whispered to Aiden.

"Dude…why is she just standing there?"

Aiden looked over to the girl, a pained expression splashed across his face.

"She always looked out for Ash when they were kids. She was like Ashley's big sister, so protective of her. Ash was on the phone with her one night before we had a date and she wanted to talk to me, and by talk I mean she threatened me that if anything happened to Ashley while she was out with me that she'd kick my ass three ways from Sunday. I wouldn't put it past her to make good on that. And now that something happened while _she_ was with Ash…"

"Gotcha." Glen nodded in understanding.

He was the same way with Spencer and even Clay on occasions. It was just an older sibling kind of thing.

Jessi just stared at her cousin's face, lost in thought. Tears started to form in her eyes.

_**11 years ago…**_

_A six year old Ashley sat quietly in her room dressing up her Barbie in a brand new outfit. Jessi was across the hall using the bathroom, claiming she had to 'pee like a race horse'. Whatever that meant._

_Ashley loved when her favorite cousin visited. Ever since she could remember; which wasn't that far considering she was only five; anytime Jessi visited she had more fun. The older girl always played the games Ashley wanted to play, always made the food Ashley wanted to eat, and always made sure she was safe._

_Now that Ashley had just finished her first year of school and was on summer vacation, someone had to watch the girl. Raife was making another album and Christine was off on some extended 'business trip'. They'd considered hiring a nanny, but when Jessi heard she jumped at the opportunity. She simply adored the curly headed, brown eyed, spastic ball of hyperactivity._

_Sure she was only 12, but there were plenty of adults around; the butler, the maid, the chauffer, the gardener, the tennis instructor, and the pool boy. Jessi sure did like that pool boy. Of course Ashley didn't see the appeal, boys had cooties. She'd warned her almost teenage cousin of the dreadful things, but Jessi assured her that she'd received her cootie shot and was safe._

_They'd spent the entire day together, just the two of them. Ashley woke up at what Jessi described as 'the butt crack of dawn' and proceeded to jump on her cousin's bed until the girl begrudgingly dragged herself from the oh so soft Egyptian cotton and into the kitchen._

_After preparing the meatball Spaghettios Ashley insisted upon having, she drew the little girl a bath and set off to get a shower in for herself. Neither of them took long getting ready so by 8 a.m. they were sitting in front of the television watching Rugrats and various other cartoons._

_By 10 the T.V. was off and, going against her better judgment of watching The Price is Right instead, the girls were in Ashley's room playing with Barbies. Five minutes in and Jessi had already found an excuse to break away from the massive amounts of pink. When she got back though, she made a discovery that made the whole thing worth while._

"_Ash, why are Barbie and Melanie in the same bed?" the eldest girl asked while trying to stifle her giggles._

"_Because they like each other."_

_The curly headed Davies said it so simply, her innocence bubbling out, like it was the most normal thing. If only the rest of the world was like that._

"_They don't like boys?"_

_Ashley looked at her like she'd grown three more heads._

"_What?! NO! Boys are icky! They have cooooties. Besides, they look really good and stuff together don't you think?"_

_Jessi looked at her cousin with the softest smile that Ashley had ever seen her wear. In the softest voice she replied,_

"_Yeah Ash, they do."_

She was full on crying now. This entire experience was her fault. She just had to check that email. She just had to bring it up at the table.

The group turned around and looked at the broken girl. They didn't know what to do anymore. She was pretty much the leader of the pack. Madison decided that tough love would be a good approach.

"Jessi! Stop crying and get your butt up here and help us! You're not doing her any good by standing there being a blubbering idiot!"

That only served to make her cry harder.

"_She can't help her. None of you can._"

When they heard that voice they instantly backed away from the cross. Quinn appeared next to Ashley, looking menacingly at the bound girl. With a snap of his fingers she groggily came to.

She lifted her head and through lazy, glazed, heavily lidded eyes stared directly into her cousin's eyes.

"Help me." She pathetically whispered.

Quinn grinned heinously and snickered. He leaned in close to Ashley's ear and whispered.

"_She can't help you. She's the one that's going to kill you._"

Ashley went wide eyed and turned to stare the ghost in the eye. She was met with a wink and quickly whipped her head back to Jessi. The view wasn't any better there. Jessi stood there, gun pointed directly at Ashley, with a shattered expression on her face and tears still pouring down her face.

_**8 years ago…**_

_Christmas vacation had hit and Ashley was in Wisconsin visiting with her favorite of the extended family. Unfortunately, the house they lived in was kind of creepy at night. It was pitch black and the smallest noise startled the wide awake nine year old. She thought about turning on the T.V. and letting that lull her to sleep, but she didn't want to wake the entire house._

_She'd been sound asleep until a nightmare about that freak Bozo the clown chasing her with pies and balloon animals made her wake up and wake up fast. She despised clowns. That was a fact._

_Doing the only thing she could think of, she got off the couch and headed down the hall to Jessi's room. She pushed the door open to find the teen spread haphazardly across her bed, blankets strewn every which way, snoring away. She chuckled at the sight and moved closer, poking slightly at the girl's stomach._

"_Mmfheorangrr. The duck flies at midnight!" she mumbled, still in her dream state._

_Ashley poked her again, harder this time. Jessi jerked awake and looked at her cousin and then at the clock._

"_Ash…it's 3 in the morning. Why aren't you asleep? I get that it's Christmas, but seriously babe…this is just a bit ridiculous."_

_Jessi was definitely not a person you wanted to wake up at obscene hours of the morning. She cherished her sleep, something everyone was well aware of._

"_I had the Bozo dream again."_

_She'd said it in the smallest voice and had the cutest frown on her face that could melt the ice off just about anyone's heart. Jessi had no choice but to sigh and scoot over to make room for the little girl._

"_Come on!" she patted the empty space next to her._

_Ashley grinned and hopped onto the bed. After ten minutes of situating herself to get comfortable she looked over to the older girl who'd fallen back to sleep. She poked her again to wake her up._

"_Whaaaaat?" she whimpered._

_All she wanted was her 10 hours of sleep. Was that too much to ask?_

"_I can't sleep."_

_Apparently that night it was. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly._

"_Sing to yourself. You've got a great voice."_

"_What should I sing?"_

"_I don't know…how bout Ricky Martin? He's hot."_

"_Will you sing with me? I don't know all the words."_

"_Mmfhauregerf. Sure…whatever."_

_Sleep was overtaking her again._

"_Talk to me, tell me the news. You wear me out like a pair of shoes. We'll dance until the band goes home, then you're gone. Yeah baby. Well…um…well…um…I don't know what comes next."_

_Nothing but the sound of deep, even breaths were coming from Jessi. Ashley poked her one last time, fatigue setting in on the younger girl._

"_You really gotta stop poking me Ash…"_

"_You said you'd sing with me."_

_After a few grumbles and repositioning herself so she was lying on her stomach, Jessi let out a monotoned, utterly unenthused performance._

"_Well if it looks like love should be a crime, you'd better lock me up for life. I'll do the time with a smile on my face. Thinking of her in her leather and lace…"_

_She expected to hear Ashley to take on the chorus but no sound came from her tiny lips. Jessi cracked an eye open to see Ashley totally knocked out, little snores coming from her._

"_Night Ash…"_

She blinked out of the memory. Ashley's eyes pleaded with her.

_Quinn said I was an important part of this. If he's so powerful why can't he kill Ashley? Why does it have to be me?_ Jessi thought to herself.

It made absolutely no sense. Why could the ghost that had brought them here not carry out what he obviously so desperately wanted?

"_Kill her._" Quinn ordered.

Jessi pulled the hammer back until it clicked into place. She moved her eyes around the courtyard, behind each of the teens were the ghosts they had to face. Quinn was on one side of Ashley, the clown on the other. It was like the rest of them couldn't see any spirit but Quinn's.

The moon disappeared behind the large clouds that had rolled in, seemingly out of nowhere. Thunder and lighting clattered and flashed violently around them, but no one made a move. Too scared to try anything, unaware if the gun would go off. All eyes were on the Wisconsin native.

_Come to me clouds, may you rise as an evil storm born to rip them open. As death surrounds me I will not run. Fate has brought me here for a purpose I shall fulfill. May the blood that courses through my veins cleanse this place; I pray you._

The words of the prayer repeated in her head over and over and over. They were all she could comprehend.

"_Kill her!_" he demanded more forcefully.

More thunder. More lightning.

"Fate has brought me here for a purpose I shall fulfill. May the blood that courses through my veins cleanse this place; I pray you." She whispered to herself.

And suddenly, it clicked. It made sense. She knew what she had to do.

"Turn around." She softly, but forcefully demanded of the teens.

They were dumbfounded and had no idea what was going on.

"Turn around!" she said more harshly.

They listened and she turned her gaze to Ashley.

"I'm so sorry Ash…I'm so sorry. I love you. Close your eyes."

Jessi had tears in her eyes again, Ashley had no idea what was about to happen.

"I love you too Jess, but what are you doing?"

"I love you Ash. Just please…close your eyes. I can't look into them when I do this. It'll all be over soon."

She had no other choice, she closed her eyes.

Jessi let a few tears fall before looking at Quinn. He still had that damn smirk plastered on his face.

"I'll see you in hell you sick bastard."

She slowly brought the revolver to her temple. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her index finger slowly pulled back on the trigger.

"JESSI NO!"

BANG!


	13. Beep Beep Beep

**A/N:** This is it. The final chapter. The big finale. The closer. The end of the fic. The- ok you get it. Thank you all for sticking it out with me and my oh so irregular updates. Thank you for all your comments/reviews. I love you guys!

A special thanks goes out to Morgan and the bestie for always bugging me to finish and always making me smile even when I've had the worst day. I love you ladies mucho.

Another special thanks to Sez as well. I dunno if you're even gonna see this, but I love you woman. We've only been friends a short while, but you are totally amazing.

Now that the longest freaking author's note is dunzo, let's get on with it shall we?! Let's shall.

**Chapter 13: Ding Ding Ding went the trolley. Beep Beep Beep went my…heart monitor? WTF?**

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…

Spencer clamped her already shut eyelids even tighter. The incessant beep that sounded through the room was really pissing her off.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…

She rolled her head from side to side trying to block it out. However, the action only served to intensify the acute headache in the back of her skull.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…

A small whimper escaped the blonde's dehydrated throat.

"Ash…turn off the alarm." Spencer's normally raspy voice sounded like she'd gotten her tonsils out or something. "For the love of Jimmy John's turn off the-"

Hold up. Wait a minute. Jimmy John's? Jessi!

Spencer had turned around just as Jessi pulled the trigger on herself. The Ohio native shut her eyes when she heard the bang, but after that it was dead quiet.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…

Well, minus that damn beep.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…

This time a loud growl ripped through the young Carlin as she snapped her eyes open. That was a big mistake on her part because the sheer brightness of the room made her head hurt even worse.

Another groan later, she could see the room clearly. She was in the hospital. Why? It made absolutely no sense; none whatsoever.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…

And whatever was making that noise would be reduced if Spencer had anything to do with it.

The blonde looked to her left; a heart monitor. Super…

"Ah, the prodigal child has returned."

That voice, there was no way. She slowly turned her head to the right.

"Jessi?"

The brunette smirked at her, "In the flesh."

"But…but no. You…the gun…Ashley. Oh my god where's Ashley?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down Spence." The older girl said as she leaned forward in the chair she occupied. "Ashley's fine. She went to get a snack. Back any minute if my calculations are correct."

Jessi side-glanced the door, checked her watch, and relaxed back into the chair, while Spencer numbly nodded. To say she was totally confused would be the understatement of the century.

Jessi shot herself and yet there she sat fresh as a daisy and the blue eyed girl from Ohio was hooked up to a heart monitor and had what had to have been the worst headache known to man.

The younger girl looked down at her hands then back to the Wisconsinite. She looked completely calm in the chair, arms crossed over her chest. A soft smile played on her lips as well, and there was a tiny gleam in her eye. Spencer had either not noticed it before or there was something that'd happened to cause it.

"Jess, how-"

"Spencer?"

Jessi and Spencer turned their attention to Ashley who stood in the door, Nacho Cheese Doritos in hand. The Davies girl was shell shocked. She rushed over to the bed so fast the bag flew out of her hand and dropped to the floor. Orange chips scattered everywhere.

She practically tackled the blonde when she wrapped her toned, tanned arms around the girl. She squeezed so tight that Spencer couldn't breathe.

"Ash. Ash…can't…breathe…" the younger girl coughed out while she slapped her girlfriend on the back.

Ashley pushed back and blushed profusely.

"Oh…sorry. I'm just…YOU'RE AWAKE!" She squealed and pulled her into another hug that felt like she'd cracked a few ribs.

"Easy on the girlfriend Ash!" The blonde wheezed.

"My bad, my bad. But, ahh…it's just…you've been gone for a while…I was worried that you weren't gonna come back."

Well now Spencer was just beyond confused. What the hell was going on?

"Gone? What are you talking about? If anything I was out for a couple of hours."

Ashley looked at her like she'd grown a second head. "A couple of hours? Spence, don't you remember prom?"

"Uh, duh. How could I forget prom? But that was months ago."

"No baby, prom was two weeks ago."

"Two weeks ago? No, no see. It was months ago. You picked Aiden, but then you broke up and he and Kyla got back together because he was really in love with her and then you came over to my house one night and sang to me and we made up in the back yard with a smoking hot kiss and then we went upstairs and…ya know. And then-"

Spencer had rambled so fast that she was out of breath. Jessi just looked on in amusement. She felt bad that she knew exactly what was going on, but she also knew she wasn't allowed to say anything.

"Spence, no. I'm telling you, prom was two weeks ago. All of that stuff you said was just a dream. I would never pick Aiden over you. God it was never even a choice. You're it for me. I know I haven't exactly shown you that…but I swear I'll spend every day of my life making it up to you."

"So, if prom was two weeks ago…then what the hell happened that I ended up here? And why do I have the worst freaking headache known to man?"

Ashley sighed deeply.

"When Aiden so 'valiantly' tackled us to the ground…you hit your head on the cement…" Her voice cracked as she continued. "There was so much blood Spence. I was so scared."

"Ash hey, look at me." The curly haired girl did as she was asked. "I'm fine ok? I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

Ashley just nodded, but a thought occurred to her.

"Spence, who were you talking to when I walked in?"

Jessi stiffened a bit in her chair and it didn't go unnoticed by Spencer.

"Jessi." The blonde stated simply.

"Jessi? Jessi who?"

"Uh, your cousin? Duh."

The Wisconsin girl shifted a little more in the chair, clearly uncomfortable with what was going on.

"Um…baby…my cousin died when she was 16…"

"But…but she's right there."

Spencer pointed to the chair next to the bed.

"There's no one there Spence…how did you even know about her? I never told you."

"Ash, I'm telling you, she's right there. Jessi, help me out here!"

Ashley stood up and headed towards the door.

"I'm just gonna go get your doctor. I think you're still a little out of it."

Spencer looked to Jessi, pleaded with her eyes for help.

"She can't see me Spencer. She's right. I'm dead. The big guy up there sent me to make sure you made it back, so I just sped the process along. You were really supposed to be out for a few more weeks, but I knew she needed you." The brunette motioned towards her younger cousin.

"Ashley wait." Spencer turned back to Jessi and whispered, "What do I do? She won't believe me!"

"Just bring up Ricky Martin. Take care of her Spence, my job is done here. It's your turn now."

Jessi stood from the chair and kissed Spencer on the head, then headed for the door as Ashley walked back to the bed.

"What is it baby?" she tentatively asked.

"Will you sing to me?"

Ashley looked at her like she was nuts, but who was she to deny Spencer anything?

"Uh, haha ok. What do you want me to sing?"

"Ricky Martin."

It left her mouth so quick that Jessi had to laugh.

"Oh way to be subtle Spence. Way to be subtle."

The blonde just shrugged.

"Umm…no. There's no freaking way you could know about that either…"

Jessi smiled and headed out the door, but before she left entirely, she had one closing remark.

"Hey Spence, body karate. You still got it."

She winked as Spencer grinned and walked out the door, a whisper the last thing to remind them of her presence.

"I love you Ashie poo."

Ashley looked around the room, eyes wide.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what? …Ashie poo…"

**The End**


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